New York Subway Riders: Kinda Grope-y
Ew, guys, seriously: Stop groping women on the subway. Complaints of sexual abuse in New York subways are up four percent this year, to 587.
According to City Room, NYPD Chief James P. Hall told City Council today that sexual harassment was the "No. 1 quality of life offense on the subway." (That 587 number, he also added, was likely highly under-reported. New Yorkers would be too busy to file a complaint against someone who sexually harassed them.)
The average perpetrator is a 39-year-old male, while the vast majority of victims are females over 17 years old. "It's a crime that goes more to a middle-aged individual," Chief Hall said. In contrast, other crimes in the subway generally involve younger men, from 17 to 25 years old, he said.
We also learn this helpful commuting tip: the 4/5/6 lines between Grand Central Terminal and Union Square is the gropiest part of New York's disturbingly grope-y transit system. (A bit of good news: All the complaints occurred in Manhattan. G Train represent!)
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. has a funny/good(?) idea for preventing the groping. Writes Gothamist:
Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. said, "I'd like to see a wall of shame. Posting pictures of people convicted, especially with 20 percent recidivism ... would be a useful deterrent." Hall said that women shouldn't be discouraged if they don't have a cellphone picture, "At a minimum, a report alone allows us to deploy more effectively."
Honestly? There should not only be Wall of Shame, but some sort of annual festival where these creeps are paraded down Fifth Ave. and all New Yorkers can throw rotten produce at them, like a Puerto Rican Day Parade of Justice. Gross crimes demand gross punishment.