Following a spate of violence and high-profile crimes, Gov. Kathy Hochul has taken steps to call hundreds of members of the National Guard to patrol the subways and fight the surge in violence.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced the deployment of 750 troops of the National Guard and 250 police officers and state troops from the Metropolitan Transportation Agency MTA. According, this deployment of troops is a part of her bigger plan to effectively fight the wave of violence in the NYC subways.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced, “My five-point plan will rid our subways of violent offenders and protect all commuters and transit workers. I am sending a message to all New Yorkers: I will not stop working to keep you safe and restore your peace of mind whenever you walk through those turnstiles.”
The data from the New York City Police Department shows that the crime rate significantly decreased in the years after the COVID-19 pandemic. But in recent times, especially this year, there has been a 16% increase in assaults and deadly crimes at city subway stops and trains.
Gov. Hochul said, “Since taking office, I have been laser-focused on driving down subway crime and protecting New Yorkers,” According to Gov. Hochul, the plan is to focus all efforts to rid the subways of New York City of people who commit crimes and provide peace of mind to all New Yorkers.
Governor Hochul’s five-point plan includes:
Additional State Personnel to Assist NYPD
New Program Bill to Ban Assaulters of Commuters and Transit Workers
Improving Coordination Between Law Enforcement and District Attorneys
New Cameras to Protect Conductors and Staff
$20 Million to Expand the SCOUT Pilot in Addition to the SOS Program
However, New York Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Donna Lieberman didn’t approve of Gov. Hochul’s plan. He called the move “another unfortunate example of policymaking through overreaction and overreach.”
The Executive Director further added, “Sound policy making will not come from overreacting to incidents that, while horrible and tragic, should not be misrepresented as a crime wave and certainly don’t call for a reversion to failed broken windows policies of the past.”
MTA CEO Janno Lieber said that 38 suspects were arrested last year for the subway crimes. And these 38 suspects had over 600 prior arrests. He added that according to the NYPD data, a total of 1 percent of the subway crime suspects were connected to over 20 percent of total crimes.
Due to recent subway crimes, January was a tough month for authorities according to New York City Mayor Eric Adams and NYPD Chief of Transit Michael Kemper. In Feb, a man was killed and five others wounded due to a shooting that broke out at the train platform in the Bronx.
Last week, a train conductor was slashed in the neck with a deadly weapon as he was trying to check whether the track was clear by putting his head out of the window. Due to this incident, almost all the trains were delayed.
Let us pray and hope that this surge in violence is defeated as soon as possible and life in subways becomes normal again.
