New York City Mayor Eric Adams supports Gov. Kathy Hochul deploying more law enforcement to subway
National Guard troops stand guard last week outside the 1, 2 and 3 subway entrances at Penn Station in Manhattan. Credit: EPA-EFE/Shutterstock/Sarah Yenesel
Mayor Eric Adams says he supports Gov. Kathy Hochul's deployment of 1,000 state troopers, MTA officers and the National Guard into the subways, saying “we have a safe system” but he wants “to make people feel safer at the same time.”
Speaking on Tuesday at his weekly City Hall news conference, Adams was asked repeatedly about the use of state personnel, who last week began conducting random bag checks at entrances, among other duties.
Although statistics show crime in the subways is at historic lows, there have been a recent string of high-profile, violent crimes in the system, including shovings onto the tracks and attacks on train conductors.
“High-profile incidents can really play on your psyche,” Adams said.
The plan also calls for certain recidivist criminals to be banned from the subway system, new coordination with prosecutors, money for teams to combat mental illness in the system and more surveillance cameras
Adams said he, the governor and their staffs met recently via Zoom to hash out the plan.
“She called and said, ‘Eric, I want to help, you know, and what do I need to help?’” Adams said, adding: “We hashed out some things that we can do to deal with what people were feeling about the subway system. And out of that came a conversation, ‘well, can I use additional manpower, with state troopers, National Guards?’ And I said, ‘listen, I love uniformed presence, whatever uniformed presence we could have,’” Adams said. He joked that the state uniforms are “cool as hell.”
For almost 20 years, police have been conducting random bag checks. But under Hochul's plan, checks will be done with the involvement of the National Guard and other state agencies.
The mayor’s agreeable words were in contrast with those of his Chief of Patrol John Chell, who ridiculed Hochul’s plan.
“Our transit system is not a ‘war’ zone! Bag checks have been around since 2005???” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Mayor Eric Adams says he supports Gov. Kathy Hochul's deployment of 1,000 state troopers, MTA officers and the National Guard into the subways, saying “we have a safe system” but he wants “to make people feel safer at the same time.”
Speaking on Tuesday at his weekly City Hall news conference, Adams was asked repeatedly about the use of state personnel, who last week began conducting random bag checks at entrances, among other duties.
Although statistics show crime in the subways is at historic lows, there have been a recent string of high-profile, violent crimes in the system, including shovings onto the tracks and attacks on train conductors.
“High-profile incidents can really play on your psyche,” Adams said.
The plan also calls for certain recidivist criminals to be banned from the subway system, new coordination with prosecutors, money for teams to combat mental illness in the system and more surveillance cameras
Adams said he, the governor and their staffs met recently via Zoom to hash out the plan.
“She called and said, ‘Eric, I want to help, you know, and what do I need to help?’” Adams said, adding: “We hashed out some things that we can do to deal with what people were feeling about the subway system. And out of that came a conversation, ‘well, can I use additional manpower, with state troopers, National Guards?’ And I said, ‘listen, I love uniformed presence, whatever uniformed presence we could have,’” Adams said. He joked that the state uniforms are “cool as hell.”
For almost 20 years, police have been conducting random bag checks. But under Hochul's plan, checks will be done with the involvement of the National Guard and other state agencies.
The mayor’s agreeable words were in contrast with those of his Chief of Patrol John Chell, who ridiculed Hochul’s plan.
“Our transit system is not a ‘war’ zone! Bag checks have been around since 2005???” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.
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