The National Guard troops deployed to check bags in New York’s subway stations must do so without carrying around their long guns, Gov. Kathy Hochul ordered last week.
Hochul, a Democrat, said she would deploy 750 members of the National Guard to the subways to assist the NYPD with bag checks at entrances to busy train stations.
“For people who are thinking about bringing a gun or knife on the subway, at least this creates a deterrent effect. They might be thinking, ‘You know what, it just may just not be worth it because I listened to the mayor and I listened to the governor and they have a lot more people who are going to be checking my bags,'” Hochul said at a news conference last week.
Over the weekend, a spokesperson confirmed reporting to News 4 that the governor had ordered the bag checks to be conducted without the presence of the large military-grade weapons.
The deployment of National Guard troops is one of several safety measures the governor and MTA outlined last week designed to address surging subway crime in the city. Their announcement also came a day after Mayor Eric Adams announced plans to reimplement heightened security measures at select stations across the five boroughs.
The move came as part of a larger effort from the governor’s office to address crime in the subway. She also floated 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 conductor cabins to protect transit workers.
Police in New York have long conducted random bag checks at subway entrances, though passengers are free to refuse and leave the station, raising questions of whether the searches are an effective policing tactic in a subway system that serves over three million riders per day.
Overall, crime has dropped in New York City since a spike during the COVID-19 pandemic, and killings are down on the subway system. But rare fatal shootings and shovings on the subway can put residents on edge.
Recent NYPD data paints a concerning picture, with 2023 seeing the highest number of subway assaults since at least 1996. Over that year, there were 570 assaults, marking a slight increase from the previous year and averaging about 1.5 incidents daily.
But NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper says progress is being made. An infusion of 1,000 more officers into the subway system — done in direct response to a January spike that featured a 45% jump in crime, according to Kemper — led to a 17% reduction in crime in February, Kemper said.
For the year, subway crime is still up 13% compared to 2023, with assaults on the transit system up 11%. NYPD transit police are investigating 86 assaults, up from last year’s 77.
Anthony Izaguirre of the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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