What you should know
- Last week Hochul implemented a new strategy in order to protect passengers. This plan includes 750 members of the National Guard, 250 MTA personnel and an increase in state police to help the NYPD reimplement bag checks in subway stations.
- National Guard troops deployed to search bags at New York subway stations must do so without carrying their long weapons, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered last week.
- The move came as part of a larger effort by the governor’s office to address crime in the subways.
NEW YORK — Gov. Kathy Hochul will meet Tuesday in Brooklyn with the Transportation Workers Union, MTA Chairman, Mayor Eric Adams and Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg to discuss and break down her security plan in the transportation system.
Last week Hochul implemented a new strategy in order to protect passengers. This plan includes 750 members of the National Guard, 250 MTA personnel and an increase in state police to help the NYPD reimplement bag checks in subway stations.
National Guard troops deployed to search bags at New York subway stations must do so without carrying their long weapons, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered last week.
Hochul, a Democrat, said she would deploy 750 National Guard members to the subways to help the NYPD with bag checks at the entrances to busy train stations.
“For people who are thinking about taking a gun or a knife on the subway, at least this creates a deterrent effect. They might be thinking, ‘You know what? It may just not be worth it because I heard the mayor and the governor and they have a lot more people who will check my bags,'” Hochul said at a news conference last week.
Over the weekend, a spokesperson confirmed to NBC New York that the governor had ordered that bag checks be conducted without the presence of large military-grade weapons.
The deployment of National Guard troops is one of several security measures the governor and the MTA outlined last week designed to address rising crime in the city’s subways. His announcement also came a day after Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to re-implement stricter security measures at select stations across the five boroughs.
The move came as part of a larger effort by the governor’s office to address crime in the subways. He also introduced a legislative proposal to ban people from trains for three years if they are convicted of assaulting a subway passenger and said officials would install cameras in drivers’ cabs to protect transport workers.
The NYPD has long conducted random bag checks at subway entrances, though passengers are free to refuse and leave the station, raising questions about whether searches are an effective police tactic in a subway system that It serves more than three million passengers per day.
Crime Statistics on the New York Subway
Overall, crime has decreased in New York City from a peak during the COVID-19 pandemic, and murders have decreased in the subway system. But rare shootings and deadly shoves on the subway can make residents nervous.
Recent data from the New York City Police paints a worrying picture: 2023 saw the highest number of assaults on the subway since at least 1996. During that year, there were 570 assaults, which is a slight increase from to the previous year and an average of around 1.5 incidents daily.
But NYPD Traffic Chief Michael Kemper says progress is being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system, made in direct response to a surge in January that saw a 45% increase in crime, Kemper said, led to a 17% reduction in crime in February, Kemper said .
So far this year, subway crime continues to increase by 13% compared to 2023, and attacks on the transportation system increased by 11%. NYPD Transit Police are investigating 86 assaults, up from 77 last year.
The latest horrendous case that occurred on the subway is causing controversy as it involves a man who pushed his girlfriend onto the tracks while they were arguing Saturday morning at the Fulton St. station in Manhattan at the same time as a train. The 3 line heading to Brooklyn was approaching.
The incident culminated in the woman suffering a double foot amputation and multiple rib fractures. The victim says the defendant should not have been released on parole in 2017, when her ex-boyfriend entered her apartment and brutally stabbed her and her 4-year-old daughter.
Anthony Izaguirre of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
2024-03-12 16:47:48
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