National Guard members to patrol NYC subways, Hochul says

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) announced that National Guard members will now patrol New York City subways.

The governor announced a five-point subway safety plan Wednesday “to rid our subways of people [who] commit crimes and protect all New Yorkers.” The plan includes redeploying nearly 1,000 law enforcement members to conduct bag checks in “the city’s busiest transit stations,” according to Hochul.

“So, we’ll be having 750 members of the New York National Guard, as well as another 250 personnel from State and [Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA)] Police,” Hochul said during her announcement. 

“You’ll start seeing them at the tables, making sure that weapons are not being brought in, working in… concert with our New York State Police, as well as our [New York Police Department (NYPD)], because no one heading to their job, or to visit family or to go to a doctor appointment should worry that the person sitting next to them possesses a deadly weapon,” Hochul continued.

The governor’s announcement follows another announcement by the Big Apple’s mayor, in which he said the city is reinstituting bag checks in the fight against crime on the subway.

“[W]e are reinstituting bag checks,” Mayor Eric Adams (D) said at a Tuesday press briefing. “There’s several things that we are reinstituting in the system.”

Adams said that bag checks would restart in “a week or so” when asked about a timeline.

The announcement came after a string of high-profile crimes on trains in the city, according to The Associated Press. However, crime and subway system killings have fallen in general in New York City since a rise amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m not here today to talk to you about numbers and tell you stats and statistics about what’s going up or what’s going down, I’m here to take action,” Hochul said. “Because that’s what the situation requires.”