New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced on Wednesday that she will deploy 750 soldiers from the state’s National Guard to assist New York City police in checking commuters’ bags at the city’s busiest subway stations.
Another 250 officers from the New York State Police and the state-controlled Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police will join the effort, which Hochul claims is intended to deter crime. She announced the deployment following recent high-profile attacks on commuters and transit workers.
Crimes on the subway decreased by about 15% in February compared to the same month in 2023
Crimes on the subway decreased by about 15% in February compared to the same month in 2023, according to police data. Hochul, a Democrat, stated that commuters were not reassured by “rattling off” crime figures.
“Saying things are getting better doesn’t make you feel better,” Hochul said, “especially when you’ve just heard about someone being stabbed in the throat or thrown onto the subway tracks. There’s a psychological impact.”
Soldiers of the New York National Guard do not have arrest powers during peacetime
Soldiers of the New York National Guard, a military force controlled by federal and state leaders, do not have arrest powers during peacetime, but they will assist officers who do.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who used to patrol the subway as a police officer, said he sent about 1,000 more city police officers into the subway in February following a January increase in assaults and thefts.
He has emphasized that crime is rare on one of the world’s largest subway networks, with approximately six felony crimes committed per day, the majority of which are thefts, on a service that sees over 4 million daily trips.
On Wednesday, he announced that he would reinstate bag checks, an occasional practice used by the New York Police Department in which officers set up a table near subway turnstiles and select members of the commuting crowds for searches.
The Riders Alliance, a New York commuter advocacy group, stated that Hochul’s deployment of the National Guard would have the opposite psychological impact than intended.
“While well-intentioned, deploying troops to the subway is more likely to increase the perception of crime among people who don’t ride public transit than to protect the millions of people on platforms and trains,” Danny Pearlstein, an alliance spokesperson, wrote in an email.
According to police data, there were 38 robberies and 70 thefts, including pick-pocketing, on the subway system in February, down from 40 robberies and 98 thefts the same month last year. There were 35 assaults, the same as in February 2023. Over the course of a month, the subway saw approximately 90 million trips.
Hochul cited last week’s attack on a subway train conductor, who was slashed in the neck by an unknown assailant while leaning out of a window on his train.
It was one of several recent assaults on subway workers in recent weeks, which enraged their labor union and caused service disruptions the next morning as MTA employees stopped work to file safety complaints.
Hochul announced on Wednesday that the MTA would install new security cameras in conductor cabins and that she was urging the state legislature to pass legislation allowing judges to ban people who assault workers and commuters from using the subway system.
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