The New York Police Department will nearly double the number of officers patrolling Central Park starting Wednesday evening following a significant increase in robberies there since last year, police told Gothamist.

The reinforcements will add more than 100 officers to the Central Park patrol. About 135 officers currently work in the Central Park Precinct, according to police records. Officials said in April that they would increase police presence in the park after a series of weekend robberies, but did not say how many officers would be deployed.

According to the New York Police Department, New Yorkers have already reported 30 robberies in Central Park this year, compared to just 10 in the same period last year. Last weekend, police reported two robberies in the park.

Park visitors are also reporting more serious assaults resulting in serious injuries. According to NYPD data, police have reported ten such assaults in Central Park so far in 2024, compared to seven in the same period last year.

The trend follows a larger pattern of rising assaults across the city. New Yorkers reported about 21,000 felony-level assaults in 2019, a number that rose to 28,000 last year even as shootings and murders declined, Gothamist reported Wednesday.

The additional officers will be drawn from various NYPD units to begin patrolling Central Park starting at 5 p.m. on Wednesday and will be deployed throughout the park throughout the day, according to authorities.

Reported crimes were concentrated in the northern part of the park earlier this year and have since shifted southward, the New York Police Department said. Police said they will deploy their officers in the park depending on where crimes are reported.

The NYPD also plans to deploy autonomous drones over Central Park by the end of the month, officials confirmed. The flying robots will respond to gunshots in Central Park and four other police precincts.