Judy: After hitting your
historic lows, pre-pandemic
crime has been spiking in many
parts of the country including
in the nation's most populous
city.
Shootings in New York City have
more than doubled this year
compared to the sign -- the same
time period in 2019.
The new mayor has made public
safety has top priority and
polls show new yorkers agree
with half saying crime is issue
number one for them.
Is the city at or close to a
tipping point?
Jeffrey point -- Jeffrey brown
has our look.
Reporter: On a recent morning,
they ventured underground for
one of the first times in weeks.
They grew up riding the subway
but says since the pandemic amid
an increase and violence, he
feels it is -- she feels it is
different now.
>> I feel uneasy because of the
particular vibe in the car.
Reporter: You are more aware of
it.
>> I am in tune of what is going
on around me and that vigilance
can be exhausting.
Reporter: On any given day, new
York and feel glorious.
Spring in the air and families
at play.
Urban life at its most
pleasurable.
But other days, the feeling is
quite different as it when a
gunman opened fire on a subway
car last month shooting and
wounding 10 people.
>> When that happens, it reels
me back to that time when I was
taking the train through
Brooklyn.
Reporter: She is the author of a
recent memoir, beautiful country
, about growing up as a young
immigrant in New York City.
>> The subway was the center of
what to my family made America,
made New York City accessible
and what made it feel like there
was mobility in terms of
physical mobility but also
social mobility.
Reporter: The psychology of a
city, when does it change?
How is it seen and felt by its
citizens and the outside world?
Questions new yorkers and others
are asking themselves.
>> People are concerned.
People are afraid and worried.
And you understand why reporter:
Williams is a New York public
advocate, and elected ombudsman
for the city.
He was first diagnosed with to
rett syndrome as a teenager.
He is also a former councilman
from Brooklyn.
His area did see progress in two
decades before the pandemic.
>> You cannot nor that violence
is going up here in New York but
across the nation.
People have a right to be safe
and feel safe.
Sometimes those are different
things.
We have to have leadership that
can address those fears, put
them in context so we don't get
more afraid that we should be.
Reporter: On the day we spoke to
Williams, he had just come from
a funeral viewing of a
12-year-old shot while sitting
in a car.
Even with the recent uptick he
notes violent crime in New York
remains significantly below
where it was in the early 1990's
when the city recorded more than
2000 murders annually.
And 2021, there was 488.
>> It is hard because I know we
are not where we were but we are
not going in the right
direction.
Reporter: We talk about a
tipping point.
One moment we are talking about
New York being a vibrant and
positive place and then
something changes.
>> I don't think we have reached
the tipping point yet but we are
moving in that direction.
The only thing I can say is that
this is a national thing that is
happening.
>> My first concern is that we
might overreact.
Reporter: A psychologist at a
college of criminal justice is
worried the attention crimes
like the subway shooting
generate will lead to overblown
reactions by policymakers.
>> Fear of crime is real.
People should feel concerned but
if we allow and we exacerbate
and exaggerate what is happening
, then that will run rampant and
the tipping point we keep
talking about, if the fear gets
too high, that will become the
way New York is organized and we
will start taking actions in a
way that could lead to
challenges down the road.
Reporter: Since January, the
city has added police patrols on
the subway and they were
increased again after the mass
shooting in April.
The mayor has also reinstated a
specialized police unit charged
with getting illegal guns off
the street.
In the past, these types of
units have been controversial
including as part of the city's
stop and frisk policy which
racially profiled young black
and Latino men and was ended in
2013 by a federal judge.
She says more than any one
violent incident or policy
response, it is the more than
two years of covid that still
hang over New York City and must
be addressed.
>> The pandemic unraveled and
exposed things about New York
that were never really settled.
The racial climate in New York
has been client -- problematic
forever.
The health-care system has
always been a challenge and the
pandemic unearthed some of our
more structurally deep rooted
concerns and they will have an
impact on crime.
Reporter: The demise of New York
has been predicted many times
before.
A businessman, Richard played a
key role in saving the city from
bankruptcy in the 1970's and led
the transit system at a time
when subways were losing
ridership, physically falling
apart and perceived as
dangerous.
Perhaps surprisingly, he says
that period does not compare to
the shock of a -- of the last
few years when the city lost
people and subway ridership
plummeted.
>> There are a lot of people
saying, I don't have to go to
the office in New York.
I can work from home.
Reporter: But he remains bullish
on the long-term prospects of
the city.
>> I believe New York will
recover but I don't know if it
will take one year or three.
But it still the only civilized
institution in our society --
cities.
The city of New York first and
foremost.
Reporter: Still fears persist
and even grow for some pure the
spike in violence has included
attacks against Asian Americans.
In January, a 40-year-old,
Michelle go was killed when
pushed from behind by a homeless
man in front of an ongoing
subway train.
>> There is a new sense of
vulnerability among the Asian
population that we are beginning
targeted.
With that has come a growing
sense of community.
I have noticed when I am on a
train or platform that Asians
traveling by themselves, we tend
to find each other and stand
together and I can feel my own
shoulders loosened a little
thinking, I can breathe for a
moment because we are all here
and can protect each other.
Reporter: After the April subway
shooting in sunset park, a
diverse Brooklyn neighborhood,
they put a call out on Twitter
asking people to share subway
memories.
She was flooded with replies.
>> There was of course the sad
entries of being assaulted on
the subway and seeing violence
but most of all, there were so
many stories of the kindness of
new yorkers, of spontaneous
singing --
♪♪
it really showed me that the
subway is the beating pulse of
the city and yes, there is bad
and yes, there is some silliness
but there is so much good.
Reporter: For the pbs newshour,
I am Jeffrey brown in New York
City.