New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced plans Wednesday to send the National Guard to the New York City subway system to help police search passengers’ bags for weapons, following a series of high-profile crimes on city trains.
Hochul, a Democrat, said she will deploy 750 members of the National Guard to the subways to assist the New York Police Department with bag searches at entrances to busy train stations.
The move came as part of a larger effort from the governor’s office to address crime in the subway, which included a legislative proposal to ban people from trains if they are convicted of assaulting a subway passenger and the installation of cameras in conductor cabins to protect transit workers.
Full story: New York will send National Guard to subways after a string of violent crimes
New York City is known for having people jump over the pay barrier and being that they now need the police to stand down there to not only make sure that these people pay to get in but also are not bringing weapons. When looking in New York there is a lot of homelessness and a lot of them tend to go to the subways with weapons and try to rest being that they are away from the elements but they still have a chance to have an encounter with someone they don’t like. But it’s not just the homeless people that commit crimes there but also just random citizens who bring weapons and have a high crime rate. So by bringing in the police, state troopers, and the National Guard, they are trying to have a deterrence but what role will the National Guard play in assisting law enforcement? Being that the National Guard doesn’t have any arresting power like the police are they only down there to scare people?
Drew, I liked how you questioned the lack of authority by the national guard. I understand how having officers in uniform around the trains can give an omnipresence of authority in the area, but I feel as though if these individuals are unable to attain offenders when they do commit crimes, how long will it last for these offenders to realize there isn’t much that the National Guard can do? I feel as though this can only be a temporary solution for a very short period of time. Other measures will need to be taken to improve on the persisting crime in the area.
What is the point of bringing in the national guard to do a police officer’s job? According to the national guard the standard guardsmen can only detain an individual until the proper authories can show us and even then they cannot detain them for very long. The introduction of a military presence may just lead to citizens feeling oppressed and may cause someone who is mentally ill to strike any guardsmen which may also lead to worse problems. The guardsmen should only really be called for events that attempt to cause civil unrest or after a natural disaters not some petty crimes. Efforts to reduce criminal activity and escpecially arresting others should be for the police to do. If anything the NYC government should look into their homeless and mentally ill population that live in the subways and fix that issue as well as upgrade entry systems so people aren’t able to jump over the pay areas.