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New York Governor Kathy Hochul told subway riders who refuse to submit to bag checks to ‘go home.’ Her comments came as she defended stationing 750 national guard members at the Big Apple’s busiest stations in a bid to clamp down on the rampant violence rocking the network. The guard members will be checking passengers’ bags for weapons as they enter the system.
Talking to Fox5 , Hochul was asked what passengers who did not want their belonging searched should do. ‘Go home,’ she answered bluntly. ‘We’re not going to search you—you can say no. But you’re not taking the subway.’ Hochul was pressed on the five-point plan she announced on Wednesday aimed at tackling the spike in violent subway crimes.
She has partnered with Mayor Eric Adams, who announced he was bringing back bag checks for subway riders on Wednesday after a 13 percent crime spike. Bag checks were first brought in on the subway following the 2005 London bombings. The policy appears reminiscent of New York’s previous stop-and-frisk searches on the street, which were ruled unconstitutional almost a decade ago.
‘My No. 1 priority is the safety of all New Yorkers,’ Hochul said. ‘If people are anxious in any aspect of their lives, particularly the lifeblood of our region—downstate does not function without a healthy subway system that people have confidence in—I have to do this for them.’ Recent criminal activity on the trains making headlines include a cellist who was bludgeoned over the head by a stranger wielding a water bottle as he performed, as well as a shooting that killed one and injured five others.
Hochul further cited a subway conductor who had his throat slashed as among the ‘fever’ sweeping the transport system. The conductor survived thanks to the quick thinking of a doctor who was on board. She also mentioned another MTA conductor who was hit on the head with a glass bottle as further evidence of the dire situation. ‘We’re gonna take some strong action,’ Hochul said. ‘There’s no search-and-frisk, there’s no stop-and-frisk, there’s no profiling. All this is a deterrent saying: “You want to commit a crime? Go somewhere else—not on our subways.”‘
Hochul said the troops’ presence would further dissuade fare dodging. ‘You want to look in the eyes of the police officer or the MTA transit police or National Guard and still jump the—skip the fare? Go ahead,’ she added. The governor hopes that eventually the entire network will be covered by cameras to deter criminality. ‘I’d rather be in the business of preventing crimes than having to solve them,’ she said.
‘And if people know they’re being watched—that there’s a camera that will record if they harm someone, assault, bring out a gun, have a knife, that they’re going to get caught—I think that’s going to have a powerful effect on the psychology of the criminals.’ There will be 94 bag screening teams sent to 136 stations each week, though the exact locations will be determined. The city is also reviewing technology to detect metal objects entering the transit system.
Screening teams will be able to check bags of any passenger for weapons under the policy that has long been dormant. The national guardsmen join an additional 1,000 cops stationed in subways by Adams following a 45 percent increase in major crimes in January compared to the same time last year. Knives, box cutters, clubs and guns are reportedly among the weapons the NYPD is searching for.
Subway crime has been on the rise of late, with 2023 showing the most subway assaults since 1996. There have been three homicides on the rails to start the year, compared to none at this point last year. The Transit Workers Union slammed their bosses at the MTA for failing to protect them.
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