NYC subway riders fight back at groping, grinding, lewd acts
A young woman boards a crowded subway in New York City. As more passengers pile in, a man inches closer and starts grinding his groin against her. The woman knows what’s happening, but the train is so packed she can’t get away.
It’s a situation police say plays out hundreds of times a year beneath the nation’s largest city. With subway ridership approaching all-time highs, averaging 5.6 million daily riders, reports of sex crimes are also rising, up nearly 57 percent.
But police say that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s more groping, grinding and lewd acts going on. They instead credit an orchestrated campaign by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to encourage riders to report sex crimes, including posters and automated announcements in subway stations, a web page for victims to document encounters and a new smartphone app that makes it easier to send in pictures of perpetrators in the act.