1. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/21/nyregion/terrorism-nypd-i...
Speaking of, this just broke: "The NYPD Is Tossing Out Hundreds of Misconduct Cases — Including Stop-and-Frisks — Without Even Looking at Them" https://www.propublica.org/article/nypd-tossed-out-police-mi...
Of course, NY subway police is something else, and that's a very NY thing.
Mostly, it's just a waste of money. Just move the fee collection to taxes and you can free literally hundreds of millions of dollars devoted to stationing cops and stop pretending that fare skippers are going to financially cripple the city. Cops can't keep up with the kids anyway.
> Most of the time, they're lowly constables and recruits doing national service.
"Service" is a reach given most of what they do is... nothing. Literally just standing around as a physical manifestation of security theater. If they want to be useful they can build housing or distribute food or bring people healthcare.
Police standing around in subways is still a deterrent from bad behavior, especially when coupled with a justice system that doesn't reward criminals. See Japan, Korea, Singapore, Dubai, Israel, etc.