NEW YORK — Even in the city that never sleeps, there’s at least one place New Yorkers value a little shut-eye.

On late-night and early-morning subway rides, it’s common to see passengers dozing off (or passing out) on the way home. But New York City’s police commissioner is sounding the alarm. More than half of all subway crime in the past year involved a sleeping victim. And now he’s instructing police officers to wake sleeping passengers in an effort to keep them safe.

Prudent idea? Maybe. But Police Commissioner William Bratton’s shake-and-wake plan wasn’t sitting well with some passengers.

Being able to doze during a commute — if you can get a seat — is one of the little luxuries that sets New York life apart from the car-centric suburbs, where a drowsy nod behind the wheel can mean disaster.

“Who does it hurt” asked John Fernandez, 26, who lives in Manhattan and occasionally catches a quick nap during his 40-minute subway commute. “Sometimes you just want to close your eyes.”

Bratton insists “subways are not for sleeping” and snoozing passengers are putting themselves at risk.

“If you are sleeping on the subway, you make yourself a very easy victim,” Bratton said. “Why would you put yourself at that risk?”

Subway crime in New York City is a world away from the dark days of the transit system, when people were afraid to ride after dark. But a recent spate of newspaper headlines over slashings and stabbings has drawn attention to subway safety.

The idea to nudge passengers awake is not new. Transit officers in 2012 noticed a spike in subway-related thefts and went car-to-car on the late shifts making sure people weren’t asleep.

Police are now focused on the late-night and early-morning trains when people are often alone in a car asleep

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio downplayed the safety fears, but also backed the so-called sleep sweep as a way to fight crime.

The city’s subway rules do not prohibit someone from sleeping on the train unless they take up more than one seat or cause a disturbance.