NYPD Using Drones to Combat Subway Surfing

Mayor Eric Adams, elected officials and members of the NYPD gathered in Woodside Thursday afternoon to issue a “cry for action” against subway surfing – the practice of riding atop moving subway carriages – following the death of a 13-year-old girl along the elevated 7 line in Corona on Sunday night.

Adams, speaking at a press conference at Woodside’s P.S. 11 The Kathryn M. Phelan School at 54-25 Skillman Ave., touted the success of an NYPD drone program aimed at combating the trend of subway surfing among New York City youths, Queens Post reports.

Since its launch last year, the drone program has observed more than 100 individuals engaged in subway surfing, including one child who was just nine years old.

Last year, the NYPD launched a pilot drone program to combat subway surfing. Since its inception, the program has helped save 114 lives. Individuals who have been apprehended by the program to date range from nine to 33 years old, with an average age of 14.

The program uses data from 311 and 911 calls about subway surfing to place drones in strategic locations and subway surfing hotspots along elevated train lines. Drones capture footage of individuals engaging in subway surfing and NYPD officers nab them when the train pulls into a station. Parents of young subway surfers are then informed of the incident and shown footage of their children riding atop subway cars.