March 6 (UPI) — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul Wednesday announced a five-point subway security plan that includes deploying 750 National Guard troops to strengthen security on New York City subways.
Hochul will send 750 National Guard members and 250 New York State Police and MTA Police Department personnel to help conduct bag-inspection security checks at heavily traveled stations.
Hochul also introduced a bill to ban people convicted of assault within the transit system from being allowed to use it.
She has directed the MTA to speed up security camera installations throughout New York’s subway system, adding new cameras to protect conductor cabins.
Hochul also is convening the New Subway Violence Strategic Partnership to improve the coordination between state, NYPD and district attorneys on subway security.
And she will expand the existing Subway Outreach Initiative.
“My five-point plan will rid our subways of violent offenders and protect all commuters and transit workers,” Hochul said in a statement. “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.”
There have been at least 97 subway assaults in 2023 and there were three murders in city subways this year.
In one of the assaults, MTA conductor Alton Scott’s neck was slashed when he stuck his head out of the conductor’s window at the Bedford-Stuyvesant station at Rockaway Ave.
According to police department data, 388 major crimes have been committed in the New York City subway system this year, a 13% rise from the year before.
“Deploying troops to the subway will unfortunately increase the perception of crime,” said transit group Riders Alliance spokesperson Danny Pearlstein.
Perception aside, actual crime incidents on New York City subways have filled many news reports lately.
Police Tuesday arrested Milton Hamlin, an alleged anti-gay bigot, in the box-cutter attack against a 27-year-old gay man traveling on the subway to Penn Station with his husband.
According to police, Hamlin shouted homophobic obscenities before cutting the victim.
On Feb. 27, three suspects in the shooting death of a Bronx subway rider Alfredo William Alvarez were arrested.
Earlier in February, one person was killed and five wounded at the Mount Eden Avenue subway station when two groups of young people clashed.
And in November a man opened fire at the Times Square station in an attempt to interrupt an alleged robbery attempt. The alleged robber, Matthew Roesch, was arrested and no one was injured.
The man who fired the gun left before police arrived.
