Most incidents are in the morning rush, followed by the evening rush.
Many perps loop the 4,5,6 lines between Grand Central and 59th Street.
Most pervs are middle-aged men. The average age of those arrested is 39.
Most victims reporting harassment are older than 17.
Most reported incidents are in Manhattan.
Most female — and some male — subway riders have horror stories of being grabbed, groped, flashed or even attacked. But only 587 incidents of sexual harassment have been reported this year.
“It’s the number one quality of life issue in the subway,” said NYPD's Transit Chief James Hall, acknowledging, “It’s an underreported crime.”
There were 564 incidents reported in 2008 and 438 arrests. This year 412 arrests have been made — 14 were registered sex offenders and 71 had prior sex offenses.
Reports rose since 2008 when the MTA kicked off a public awareness campaign with subway posters and PA announcements.
Officers are required to report the crimes when victims come forward, Hall said. But when Oraia Reid, of New Yorkers for Safe Transit, tried to report someone groping her at the West Fourth station in August, she said she was ignored.
Reid hopes to collaborate on the MTA’s campaign to include information for bystander intervention and a hot line number.
“We’re also hoping that the NYPD will review their training, so when victims do attempt to report crimes, they’ll be taken seriously,” she said.
NEW YORK. HollabackNYC, the Web site that encourages people to upload pictures of their harassers, is developing an iPhone app. They hope to use GPS mapping, to tag people’s pictures and reports, to an online map. E-mail alerts will be sent out in real-time. The data would be compiled in an annual report sent to police, public officials and the media.