November 26, 2011
by Richard Weir, Boston Herald

Pickpockets, smartphone snatchers and bike thieves are driving a nearly 16 percent spike in railway robberies and other crimes on the MBTA this year, according to a Herald review that found train and bus riders clutching tighter to their purses and wallets, and top T cops vowing to crack down on the sticky-fingered goons.

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T police brass blame the double-digit rise in crime — 1,004 incidents so far this year compared to 868 in the same period last year — on record ridership, a sluggish economy and the high price of precious metals that drives miscreants to prey on innocent, hard-working passengers.

The nearly across-the-board increase in so-called Part 1 major crimes include a 29 percent hike in bike thefts, a 33 percent rise in pickpocketing and a 24 percent climb in “other larcenies,” such as the swiping of metal cables from the transit system and people’s belongings in train stations.

It marks the second straight year that crimes on the T have risen after a record low in 2009, when transit police reported 827 Part 1 crimes, the fewest in three decades. So far this year, aggravated assaults, bike larcenies, pickpocketings, shopliftings and larcenies have already exceeded totals for all of last year.

Fueling the 10 percent hike in motor vehicle larcenies was a spring spree of catalytic converter thefts. As many as 40 cars parked at South Shore train stations were stripped of the devices, valued by thieves for their precious metals, police said.

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T Riders Union chairman Stuart Spina said the T police “just need to ramp up their efforts” after doing a “phenomenal job” knocking down crime from its 1980s peak.

“The key is having a consistent presence,” he said. “Put the police where the crime is, whether you have to recruit more officers or distribute them more efficiently. They know where the trouble spots are.”

T officials are mulling the deployment of more plainclothes cops to trouble spots, adding bike cages and renewing alerts reminding riders to be smart with their smartphones.

Said O’Connor: “We’re going to work with our commanders and officers to revitalize our strategies and look for other ways to reduce thefts.”

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