Drop in subway performer, panhandler arrests

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FILE - In this June 17, 2014 file photo, Dashawn Martin, center, a member with the dance troupe W.A.F.F.L.E., which stands for We Are Family For Life Entertainment, performs on a subway, in New York. (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews, File)

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NY) - In 2016, the NYPD reportedly made 203 arrests for dancing and 88 for panhandling in the subways, a dramatic drop from just two years earlier when 358 arrests were made for dancing and 680 arrests were made for pan-handling.

According to Politico, the city appears to be easing its policy towards the entertainers or nuisance, depending on which straphanger you ask.

That new strategy involves steering dancers to designated locations above ground.

The subway acrobats, dancers and musicians may have helped to play a role in the drop.

In 2014, many gathered outside City Hall to decry the arrests and join critics of a police clampdown on minor offenses.

Transit rules generally allow performing for tips in parts of subway stations, but not in trains or with amplifiers, unless artists have permits.

With the Associated Press