The Metropolitan Transportation Authority is reporting a major surge in New York City subway crime.

 

The agency said pick pockets and other thieves are bumping up the crime rate by more than 20 percent this year compared to last, reports CBS 2’s Dave Carlin.

 

On her guard Wednesday was East Village resident Mariam Figueroa. She said she doesn’t wear any visible jewelry and her electronics are hidden every time she steps into a station and on to a subway train.

“I’m not showing anything, you know, in the train because I really don’t feel safe,” Figueroa said.

Crime is way up in these areas, to the point where straphangers can be left vulnerable and trapped.

There were 232 robberies in the first quarter of 2012, according to the NYPD. That’s a bump of 31.8 percent.

In addition, there were 393 grand larcenies, mostly iPhones and iPads, during that same period, an increase of 23.6 percent.

Almost a third of the victims in these cases were reportedly asleep when they were robbed, the NYPD said.