The crime is so bad in New York City that Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul said the National Guard would be called to protect the subways in the Big Apple. Just one day earlier, Democratic Mayor Eric Adams said more police officers would be assigned to the subways and policies of bag checks would be reinstated.
“We know people feel unsafe,” Mayor Adams said in remarks on Tuesday. “We need our officers out there.” Adams says the city is making progress on reducing crime and said he’s discussing with police and community leaders plans to make the surges of officers in transit a permanent policy. “We have to push back on people who are telling us to disband or defund our police department, because the public is stating they want their police officers out there,” he told reporters. “And so the loudest voices cannot hijack what I have always stated the prerequisite to our prosperity is: public safety.”
The Center Square reports that just last week, a MTA conductor was slashed in the neck at a Brooklyn subway station, and a 61-year-old man was stabbed in the Bronx, according to published reports. Police are investigating.
In a press conference with MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber and others at the New York City Transit Rail Control Center, Hochul said 750 members of the Guard would be deployed to help police.
Hochul said of criminals, “They might be thinking, ‘You know what, it 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.” She said another 250 state troopers and police officers from the MTA will help with bag searches.
The New York Civil Liberties Union disagrees with the decision to deploy National Guard, claiming the move is government overreach.
