The NYPD says there’s a “substantial” rise in bias crimes on the subway.

Officials say there have been 22 reported incidents so far this year, compared to five over the same time last year.

Most of the crimes are connected to anti-Semitic graffiti, and the city’s top transit officer says he thinks it’s linked to the country’s social climate.

“Whether the swastika’s eight feet or eight inches, they strike to the core of what we object to and who we are not as Americans,” said NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Joseph Fox. “And it’s also important that, there’s no group, there’s no gang. This is not a movement. These are individuals that are tormented the moment that feel the need to lash out like this.”

Last month, several straphangers were seen scrubbing off anti-Semitic messages on a train in Manhattan. A couple of weeks ago, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the arrest of a Brooklyn man accused of posting hate-crime graffiti around Penn Station.

(Source: NY1)