AFP Travelers at a subway station in New York
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 01:29
New York will deploy members of the National Guard to increase security in the city’s subways. The state’s governor, Kathy Hochul, announced this yesterday.
According to her, it is a response to a number of attacks on travelers and metro staff in recent weeks. The 750 members of the National Guard that she plans to deploy will help the police search bags at busy subway stations. In addition, 250 additional officers are also deployed from the state. The National Guard consists of reservists and is part of the US Army and Air Force. They are usually deployed during natural disasters, but sometimes also take action during persistent unrest.
The number of crimes committed in metros and at metro stations is down about 15 percent in February compared to the same month last year. This may also be because Mayor Adams deployed more than a thousand police officers per day in the metros last month. This was done due to a sharp increase in the number of crimes in and around the metros in January compared to the same period in 2023: from 136 cases to 201.
Rare
The mayor emphasized last month that it is relatively rare for a passenger to become a victim of a crime in the New York subway system. There are around six crimes a day – mainly robberies – on more than 4 million daily journeys made.
Despite this month’s decrease, Hochul says these types of figures do not reassure passengers. “Saying that things are getting better doesn’t make people feel better,” she said. “Certainly not when you hear about someone being stabbed in the neck or someone being thrown onto the rails. That has a psychological impact.”
The National Guard will work together with the police officers who are already active in the metro to check bags. “For people who think about taking a gun or knife into the subway, this has a deterrent effect,” the governor said. “They might think: you know what? It’s not worth it anymore.”
Hals
The stabbing incident the governor talked about was last week. A subway driver was stabbed in the neck when he stuck his head out of the window. It was one of several incidents of violence against metro staff. It led to metro employees briefly stopping work in the morning to urge the municipality and the state to take measures.
The governor also announced that there will be new cameras in drivers’ cabins. She also introduced a bill that would ban people who abuse subway staff and passengers from using subways for three years.
Democrat Hochul is focusing more on security after Republican politicians were successful in local elections around New York City in elections in 2022. This was mainly due to their emphasis on violent incidents and robberies in their campaigns.
2024-03-07 00:29:10
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