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The number of hate crimes that target Jews on subways has soared.
Smith, Bryan, Freelance NYDN
The number of hate crimes that target Jews on subways has soared.
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Anti-Semitic graffiti was the top subway hate crime investigated this year, according to the NYPD Transit Bureau.

In a report to the MTA board, Transit Bureau Assistant Chief Vincent Coogan said 22 of 31 hate crimes that happened in the subway targeted Jews, mainly through graffiti.

Last year, over the same period, only seven bias crimes total in the subway were reported.

But this year, a rash of swastikas and comments that advocate the killing of Jews have been spotted on train cars and in stations.

In February, a rider reported hateful messages scrawled on a No. 1 train in Harlem. That month, commuters also used hand sanitizer to wipe off anti-Semitic graffiti, including a pro-Trump message punctuated with a swastika.

MTA board member Charles Moerdler, a Holocaust survivor, wanted a name-and-shame campaign against anyone arrested for bias crimes in the subway.

“It was precisely this kind of statistic, this kind of conduct that gave birth in ’34 to ’38 to what led to the Holocaust, which we try to remember today,” Moerdler said Monday. “What, if anything, can be done, is being done to root out these scum?”

Coogan said that case gets an investigation from a captain or higher-ranking officer.

“We take each one of these incidents seriously,” he said, adding that “It is sometimes difficult to make an arrest” in a graffiti case.

Meanwhile, the NYPD Transit Bureau reported 16 more felony assault cases in the subway system this year through March, with 91 incidents reported compared with 75 cases from the same period last year.

Grand larcenies, meanwhile, were up 13%, for a total of 417 cases in the first three months of the year, compared with 369 cases last year. Robberies, however, dropped to 97 cases this year through March, 26 fewer incidents than the prior year.

Coogan said the spike is attributed to a few suspects who target subway riders.

“It only takes a few thefts to make a difference between year record lows and a concerning increase in property crimes,” he said. “In fact, one or two perpetrators can have a big, though usually short-lived, effect on subway crime.”