City subways are a pervert’s paradise

City subways are a pervert’s paradise | New York Post:
Sex crimes on the city’s subways have soared by nearly 20 percent this year, due to a surge in the number of gropers, flashers and voyeurs, NYPD officials said on Monday.
“I think everyone has a subway horror story,’’ said straphanger Ashley Ezparda, 27, of Jackson Heights, Queens, near the 74th Street and Broadway station. “[I saw] some homeless guy masturbating on the R train this past summer. 
I wanted to throw up.”
In the past five months alone, the rate of increase has more than doubled — with a total of 699 incidents reported, or 106 more than the 593 recorded for the same period last year, authorities said.
The most common offenses are forcible touching, lewdness and unwanted surveillance, NYPD Deputy Chief Vincent Coogan told MTA officials at a meeting.
Coogan said the rising number of complaints stems partly from riders getting more serious about inappropriate behavior and reporting it.
He said cops have been able to make arrests in more than half the cases — an increase in busts — because more straphangers are snapping cellphone photos of perpetrators.
By late July, subway sex crimes had increased by around 7.5 percent compared with the same period last year.
The latest figures show that rate has jumped to more than 17.8 percent..."