Last and this week, groups of men were spotted climbing in and out of manholes in two separate locations across Brooklyn — spending hours underground in the city's sewer system. The NYPD confirmed no immediate threat to public safety, but the city's own investigators are still probing how this happened, why it went undetected, and what it means for the security of New York City's underground infrastructure.

This is not a one-off. The NYPD says it has investigated similar incidents over the past year or two. People are accessing the city's sewer system through street-level manholes, spending hours underground, and leaving undetected. In one case, a group traveled between two locations ten miles apart — both accessed through unsecured manholes.

New York City's underground infrastructure is among the most complex and critical in the world. It carries drinking water, sewage, and connects to systems that keep millions of people safe every day. Unsecured access points are a vulnerability the city cannot afford to ignore.

We're calling on the NYC Department of Environmental Protection and the City Council to conduct a full audit of manhole security across the five boroughs, install locks or sensors on vulnerable access points, and establish a clear protocol for detecting and responding to unauthorized underground entry.