Governor Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that she is surging the National Guard and MTA Police officers into the city’s subway system after a slew of high-profile crimes rocked the transit system.
Hochul said she would place 750 members of the National Guard, and 250 MTA officers, into the system to assist the NYPD in performing bag checks for possible weapons. She hopes this will help dissuade individuals from bringing weapons underground.
The NYPD has already added up to 1,000 officers into the subway system every day in recent weeks following three recent homicides in transit since the start of the year.
Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD brass were noticeably absent from Hochul’s March 6 press conference inside the MTA’s Midtown Rail Control Center, where Hochul stood shoulder to shoulder with MTA police. While Hochul stated that she and the mayor simply had differing schedules, she seemed to take a jab at recent crime numbers and the mayor’s argument that crime is down.
“I’m not here today to talk to you about numbers and tell you stats and statistics,” Hochul charged. “I’m here to take action because that’s the situation requires. Rattling off statistic saying things are getting better doesn’t make you feel better.”
Condemning recent violent acts like that of an assault that saw a 64-year-old man kicked to the tracks of Penn Station on Sunday, Hochul said the extra officers will look for suspicious individuals and perform random bag searches. However, she also faced criticism for bringing in these outside resources rather than pay transit cops overtime.
“I said let me do something even better. Let me bring more people to the process right now. I’m ramping up 1000 people to help solve this crisis,” Hochul said. “They just want more help.”
This initiative is expected to run indefinitely and comes as part of a multi-pronged plan that will also look to enact legislation banning violent offenders from riding the subway. While the exact method of enforcement remains somewhat murky, both the governor and MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said it can and will be done.
Additionally, the governor said she is working with the MTA to have more cameras fast-tracked into the subways and on train cars; coordinating greater cooperation between the MTA and local district attorneys to prosecute offenders; and install more cameras in customer areas within subway stations.
“The National Guard and MTA Police, you’ll start seeing them at tables making sure weapons are not brought in,” Hochul said.
