NY’s Governor Deploys National Guard to Fight Crime In NYC Subway As City’s Mayor Claims ‘Crime Is Down’
Photo by: zz/NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx 2024 via AP
New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) announced a five-point plan to fight crime in the New York City subway on Wednesday, including deploying 750 National Guard members to the city.
Hochul made the announcement during a lengthy speech in which she detailed some of the recent crimes on the subway, praised New Yorkers for their efforts to help one another after attacks on the subway, but vowed to make the system safe for all riders.
Hochul’s plan will also see some additional 250 New York State and MTA police officers brought into the subway system. She tweeted out the bullets of her plan, which include:
Increase public safety personnel
Introduce legislation to protect riders & workers
Add security cameras
Boost collaboration to hold offenders accountable
Expand SCOUT Teams
The legislation Hochul is pushing for includes a state that “allows judges to block a person from riding the subway or buses for three years if they are convicted of attacking a passenger,” reported local media. She also wants New York’s DAs to bar repeat offenders from using the subway system.
Hochul’s announcement stood in stark contrast to New York City Mayor Eric Adams’s remarks the day before in which he declared, “Overall crime is down. Double-digit decreases in subway crime in February 2024.”
Mayor Adams deployed hundreds more police into the subway system in recent month and has brought back random bag checks, a controversial practice ended by his predecessor.
“They are doing an excellent job in identifying razors, knives, scissors other sharp objects,” Adams said of the checks.
“To me, that’s a low bar. I want to be able to identify a gun. We have seen some promising technology that I think in the next, you know, year we’re going to really see something that people felt was not possible,” Adams said of new camera systems that can scan for heavy weapons on the subway.
Watch Hochul’s speech above.
