The NYPD will nearly double the number of police officers patrolling Central Park starting on Wednesday night, after a major uptick in robberies there since last year, police told Gothamist.
The surge will add more than 100 officers to the Central Park patrol. There are currently about 135 officers working in the Central Park Precinct, according to police records. Officials said in April that they were increasing police presence in the park after a string of weekend robberies but did not say how many officers would be deployed.
New Yorkers have reported 30 robberies in Central Park so far this year, up from 10 this time last year, according to NYPD data. Police reported two robberies in the park last weekend.
Parkgoers have also been reporting more serious assaults resulting in serious injury. Police reported 10 such assaults in Central Park so far in 2024, compared to seven during the same period last year, NYPD data shows.
The trend follows a larger pattern of increasing assaults across the city. New Yorkers reported about 21,000 felony-level assaults in 2019, a figure that jumped to 28,000 last year, even as shooting and murders declined, Gothamist reported on Wednesday.
The additional police officers are being pulled from various NYPD units to begin patrolling Central Park at 5 p.m. on Wednesday and will be deployed throughout the park at all hours of the day, according to officials.
Reported crimes were centered in the northern part of the park at the start of the year and have since shifted southward, the NYPD said. Police said they will deploy officers in the park based on where people report crimes.
The NYPD also plans to deploy autonomous drones over Central Park by the end of the month, officials confirmed. The flying robots will respond to gunshots in Central Park and four other police precincts.
The Central Park Conservancy, the nonprofit organization that manages the park, said in a statement it was encouraged by the expanded NYPD presence.
“We want New Yorkers and visitors to continue feeling safe and protected inside this beloved public space that the conservancy cares for every day of the year,” it said.
This story has been updated to include a statement from the Central Park Conservancy.