Over the past week the NYC subways have become more of a battleground where riders are targets for perps.

You can’t have people being recklessly killed or injured on the subway and expect them to return to work anytime soon.

Mayor Eric Adams, a former transit cop, understands that and made a passion plea on Sunday.

“New Yorkers are safe on the subway system,” Adams said the mayor during a press conference. “I think it’s about 1.7 percent of the crimes in New York City that occur on the subway system. “Think about that for a moment,” he said. “What we must do is remove the perception of fear.”

Despite Adams’ assertion, most New York subway riders know this is the most dangerous time of the year to ride the trains because low temperatures drive the homeless and mentally ill people down to the subways looking for warmth.

The crime is not happening in the far-stretches of the system. Times Square and lower Manhattan were the scenes of a murder and a stabbing respectfully this weekend.

The mayor must realize that if you push draconian mandates for CoVid and then allow a Manhattan district attorney to play fast and loose with the law then you can’t keep people safe on the subway, well that’s a recipe for disaster for any economic recovery for the city.

There is no way people will come back into the city anytime soon if the mayor talks about crime as a misconception. Everyone taking the subway has a story about crime that they witnessed but maybe did not report.

Adams cannot believe his rhetoric that subway crime is a misconception of the riders. With that being said he needs to show dramatically a new effort and not just parse words to get him through another day.

Either that or welcome to the new world of Manhattan office workers Zooming full time for the next few years.