NYC’s gun violence: Sewell commends MTA’s plan to put cameras on subway cars, vows to continue improving gun violence crime rate

Keechant Sewell has commended the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s (MTA) plan to put cameras on subway cars.

“I welcome any technology that can help our officers apprehend offenders,” said Sewell, who is the current Commissioner of New York Police Department.

The commissioner also vowed to improve the city’s gun violence crime rate.

The number of shootings in the city began to fall in late April, Sewell said, crediting the drop in violence to her department’s anti-gun initiatives.

Shootings in the city began spiraling out of control during the pandemic.

“We have taken over 3,000 guns off the street so far this year,” Sewell said.

“Our arrests are at a 28-year high and we are focused on deterrence and prevention.”

As of Sunday, the city has seen 592 shootings this year compared to 669 by this time time last year, an 11% decline. The number of murders in the city are also down, from 218 by this last year to 189 so far this year — a 13% drop.

Sewell vowed to keep driving the numbers down.

“This is not a trend,” Sewell said. “We are focusing all of our resources on gun violence and being able to keep the city safer every day.”

Statistics show that overall major crime, including robberies, assault and car thefts, have increased this year, with cops seeing a nearly 40% spike in robberies compared to last year.

As a result, thousands of officers have been deployed into the city’s subway system, Sewell said, acknowledging that the department backpedaled on its plans to do solo patrols on trains and in stations after a cop on solo patrol was assaulted by a homeless man at a Brooklyn train station Tuesday.