Mayor Adams, NYPD officers visit underground homeless wasteland – and what they find is surprising

It was a walk on the wild side.

Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD officers got a first look at the desolate homeless wasteland inside the Big Apple subway system in an overnight tour of the city’s transit loitering crisis.

With The Post tagging along, the mayor and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch joined a contingent of the city’s multi-agency outreach effort at the 34th Street/Herald Square station, where staff encountered a total of 96 troubled wanderers — many of them mentally ill. Was struggling with health issues.

But late-night outreach teams faced an uphill battle – only 16 strays who offered help accepted it, including a homeless man taken to a shelter and a woman admitted to hospital.

However, most lent a helping hand.

“Everyone needs to do their part and we need Albany to step up,” Adams said. “If we’re talking about what we need on the field, they have to help us by giving us what we need.

“If we are saying we need to codify involuntary eviction then they should not be held back because we are here. Give us the tools we’re saying we need so we can consider this issue.

“This is inhumane,” he said. “It requires determination.”

The comments came as state lawmakers were considering passage of the Supportive Intervention Act, which specifies when a person in need of medical or psychiatric care can be forcibly removed from the streets.

adams Launched a “tough love” initiative In 2022 police are authorized to take problematic vagrants against their will if they require assistance – and Told about the results at the end of last year,

Yet it is unclear how strongly City Hall enforced this initiative, which presents a potential dilemma for police, who could be accused of excessive force to enforce the mayor’s directives – while This week’s walk-along at Penn Station shows that the initiative has fallen short.

Adams was tagging along with the city’s Partnership Assistance for Transit Homelessness, or PATH team, which ventures into Manhattan from 8 p.m. to 3 a.m. in an outreach effort with staff from the NYPD, Department of Homeless Services and Health Department. Crew.

The group was accompanied by NYPD Transit Chief Joseph Gulotta.

Penn Station has been notorious Favorite hangout for the city’s homeless And is mentally ill.

This visit comes just a few days after Daniel Penny, 26-year-old ex-MarineTroubled vagabond Jordan Neely has been acquitted of criminal charges over the strangulation death on the subway – a symptom of a failing system.

“We did a huge disservice by closing our psychiatric wards years ago,” Adams said. “We have excellent homeless outreach, and if we don’t pay attention to it it will rise and it will get worse.

“In a minute it could turn violent,” he said.

Adams and city police officials note that overall crime has declined in the transit system and throughout the city — but acknowledge that it has not been enough to change the perception of most New Yorkers.

“Arrests are up, crime is down in the city,” Tisch said. “There is still a perception of disarray, and the mayor has launched a number of initiatives – this is a prime example – to address the things that create a sense of disarray in the city.”

City officials said PATH has contacted about 5,300 homeless and troubled New Yorkers since its launch, of whom 1,700 have received care and services, about 8,000 have been placed in shelters and 700 have been placed in housing.

“What you’re seeing here is a perfect example of the city realizing that you can’t fight your way out of a problem,” he said. “This is a perfect example of police partnering with physicians and providing care to those who need care.”