Bank of America 'tells its workers to “DRESS DOWN“ and not wear anything with the company logo when they head to its Bryant Park office' as crime in NYC surges, with assaults up 15% in the past month
The Bank of America has reportedly told its Midtown employees to 'dress down' and avoid wearing company logos while commuting to the office as New York City experiences a surge in crime.
Senior executives at the Bryant Park location have been encouraging their younger staff to 'dress down' in order to attract less attention as they travel to work, sources told the New York Post.
They have reportedly warned staffers that wearing the company logo or dressing up could make them a target for assault, which is up 15 percent the past month.
John Yiannacopoulos, a media relations executive for Bank of America, told DailyMail.com on Friday that the company does offer 'safety guidelines' to employees. Bank of America declined to let DailyMail.com view its guidelines.
One bank employee, who was not named, told the New York Post's On The Money column that he was on a high alert after seeing a stranger with a knife near the bank's office.
A top executive of a large money management firm even said he started carrying a Taser - which has been legal to carry in New York since 2019, when a federal court reversed the state's complete ban on civilian stun guns and tasers, a source close to the executive told On The Money.
Top Executives at Bank of America's Bryant Park location (pictured) have advised younger staff to 'dress down' as they commute to and from the office to avoid being targets of crimes, sources told the New York Post
Crime has been up significantly in the city after pandemic restrictions were loosened. One Bank of America employee told the Post they were on high alert after seeing a man carrying a knife. Assault is up 15 percent in a week and 9.1 percent overall in New York City
The bank's office is a block away from Times Square, with many employees using Penn Station and Port Authority as transportation hubs as they travel to and from the office.
The surge in crime in New York City has only heightened fears as daylight-savings time ended in November, causing many commuters to travel home in the dark.
Some companies, such as Citibank, are offering private shuttles and car services for their employees who work after hours, so they can avoid public transportation altogether.
Most banks offer car services, the New York Post reported.
Yiannacopoulos confirmed to DailyMail.com on Friday that the Bank of America does offer a car service for 'early/late hour travel' for employees. He would not say the specific hours allocated to that service.
It isn't just Midtown that is experiencing a surge in crime, but also places like Wall Street in Downtown Manhattan.
'It's been a topic of conversation on the floor frequently over the last few months,' a Wall Street source told the New York Post.
A Wall Street executive said he was 'encouraged' by the city's Mayor-Elect Eric Adams public safety platform. The incoming mayor, who starts January 1, has said he will target gun violence, bring back undercover cops - which was met with dismay from the Black Live Matter leaders - and to stop jailing the mentally ill. He also said he would send officers into hot spots by following crime statistics to be able to better deploy officers
'Some people I work with have been accosted,' the Wall Street source said. 'I'd say it's becoming frequent, if not common. There's probably a dozen incidents that I saw, or have been involved in.'
The source said they mostly dealt with verbal disputes, but have experienced physical ones.
Despite most corporate workers across the city still working from home, many think 'part of getting people back to the office in NYC is about making the streets and subways safer.'
New York City's Mayor-Elect Eric Adams, 61 - who ran his campaign on public safety - has promised to make the city safer and many are hoping he can.
'I'm encouraged that Eric Adams will take a hard line,' a Wall Street executive told the New York Post. He also said Adams can't 'get here soon enough to restore law and order.'
On Thursday night, a Columbia PhD student was murdered by a 25-year-old gang member that went on to stab two others.
Davide Giri, 30, was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead
Davide Giri, 30, a PhD candidate in computer science, died around 11pm after being stabbed in the stomach by a 25-year-old member of the Bloods gang off-shoot, Every Body Killer, who has 11 prior arrests dating back to 2012.
Police arrested the unidentified suspect in Central Park, where he had been 'menacing' a man, 29, with a large kitchen knife 20 minutes after he had stabbed an Italian tourist, 27, outside the park on 110th street.
The fatal stabbing of Giri took place just a block away from where Bernard College student Tessa Majors, 18, was viciously stabbed to death in December 2019 as violent crimes continue to rise in New York City.
Police said the 25-year-old gang member has a lengthy rap sheet that includes robberies and assaults and other alleged crimes.
He was previously convicted of gang assault in 2015 and served two years in jail, according to state Department of Corrections records.
A Bronx woman ties herself a pole outside a Bronx subway station to avoid being thrown onto the tracks as transit crimes are up 106 percent this year
Police said Giri was the first victim of the stabbing spree and was attacked just before 11 p.m. on Thursday at 123rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue, in Morningside Heights.
Giri, a Brooklyn resident, was taken to St. Luke's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The PHD student had traveled the world, studying in Torino, Italy; Shanghai, China; and Chicago before settling in the Big Apple for his doctoral degree at Columbia.
Bollinger said the university is working with the NYPD to learn more details about the attack.
The city has been under attack since the pandemic restriction began lifting and the city blossomed back to life.
A man was stabbed to death inside an apartment complex's foyer recently by a man with dreadlocks in Brooklyn on November 30, as felony assault is up 9.1 percent in the city
A woman, 23, was punched and choked in Herald's Square subway station on November 27 around 4am
Felony assault has gone up 9.1 percent compared to last year and a shocking 15 percent during the month of November.
A man was stabbed to death inside an apartment complex's foyer recently by a man with dreadlocks in Brooklyn on November 30.
A 23-year-old woman was choked, beaten and robbed in Manhattan's Herald Square subway station around 4am on November 27.
Transit crimes are at its highest, increasing 120 percent in a week and a 106 percent total for November. Many reports of city-goers being thrown onto subway tracks, being robbed while waiting for trains, and more have flooded the news.
One Bronx woman showed off her bike lock on social media, demonstrating how she would tie herself to a pole while waiting for the trains to avoid any chance of being thrown in front of a moving train.
Robbery is up 3.7 percent and hate crimes are up 95.9 percent this year. Overall crime is up 3.14 percent.
Adams - who will take office at the start of the new year, replacing Bill de Blasio - has said he will target gun violence, bring back undercover cops - which was met with dismay from the Black Live Matter leaders - and to stop jailing the mentally ill.
Adams, a former NYPD officer for 22 years, also said he will 'reduce crime by having cops focus on police work' instead of paperwork and following the statistics to put more cops in hot spot areas.
'By using real-time governing tools and tracking crime trends to become predictive, we can quickly shift NYPD resources from one community to another to reverse bad trends, much the way the NYPD uses COMPstat,' Adams said on his website.
'We will regularly shift detectives and other officers from low-crime areas to crime hot-spots.'
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