Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City, says that he saw “homeless people everywhere” on the subway systems and “felt unsafe.” The newly elected official cited the recent death of a woman, who was shoved in front of a train earlier this month.

“On day one, I took the subway system, I felt unsafe. I saw homeless everywhere. People were yelling on the trains. There was a feeling of disorder. So as we deal with the crime problem, we also have to deal with the fact people feel unsafe”, Adams said in a statement, according to reports from Associated Press.

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Adams, a member of the Democratic Party, went on to recall an incident where he reached out to emergency services to report a fight on a New York City train on New Years Day, and encountered a yelling passenger and another passenger sleeping on a train.

“When you have an incident like this, the perception is what we are fighting against. This is a safe system,” Adams said in a news conference hours after the attack.

In order to counter “the perception of crime” and “actual crime”, Adams announced plans to increase the presence of law enforcement officials in the train system. The blueprint of the plan was announced before the recent killing.

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New York City’s subway has been a talking point in terms of economy, politics, safety and even electoral campaigns. The former New York Police Department captain included the need to combat violent crime on the train.

Police statistics show major felonies in the subways have dropped over the last two years, but the numbers are difficult to compare with ridership numbers having dropped as well. The drop in ridership has also made the presence of homeless people on the trains more visible, according to reports from Associated Press.

(With AP inputs)