OAN’s James Myers
9:43 AM – Wednesday, March 6, 2024
New York State Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul announced that nearly 1,000 New York National Guard, State Police and Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) officers are being deployed to screen bags on New York City’s subways.
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The reinforcements will work with the New York City Police Department (NYPD) to help patrol “the city’s busiest transit stations” amid a rise in underground crime, Hochul said.
Hochul announced a five-point plan to crack down on the city’s burgeoning underground crime wave, saying, “Such brazen and brutal attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated.”
“If you’re heading to work, visiting your family, going to the hospital, you don’t have to worry that the person sitting next to you has a weapon,” Hochul said. “You don’t have to worry about whether someone is going to brandish a knife or a gun. That’s what we do at these checkpoints.”
New York City Mayor Eric Adams and Hochul’s crackdown means subway passengers will soon have to undergo “random” bag checks. The governor is now working with mayors to stop the onslaught.
Adams noted that in 2023, 38 people were arrested for 1,126 assaults on MTA employees, while 542 people were arrested for more than 7,600 shoplifting crimes last year. In addition, Hochul said he would soon introduce a new law that would ban people who have been convicted of violent traffic assaults from riding subways and buses.
“Basically, if you assault someone on the subway, you can’t ride the subway,” Hochul said.
“We know who they are,” Hochul said of repeat offenders. “Criminal records will be flagged at the time of arrest so that they are fully taken into account when decisions regarding prosecution and bail are made.”
As part of the new plan, the MTA will install new surveillance cameras to protect transit workers, with CCTV cameras expected to be installed in all vehicles by the end of 2024.
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