Over the past two decades, New Yorkers have become used to the slow creep of armed security in public spaces. Yet Kathy Hochul’s announcement on March 6 that National Guard members and State Police officers would start doing bag checks and patrols at the turnstiles brought with it fresh unease. That’s in addition to the 1,000 NYPD officers who were deployed in the subway system back in February. Just hours after her statement, residents and tourists began to see rifles and uniforms at high-traffic points in the subway system. At first glance, Grand Central appears the same as ever: The about-to-be-late commuter narrowly avoids crashing into the tourist who’s trying to snap a quick photo of the concourse. But just out of view, figures in fatigues stand by the exit, and uniformed staties are just down the hall. They reassure some riders while leaving others more unsettled than ever.
It’s part of a five-point plan, Hochul said, to address crime on the subway. She noted a recent series of violent incidents, part of a 13 percent year-over-year rise in subway lawbreaking: the random slashing of an MTA conductor, a 64-year-old kicked onto the tracks at Penn Station. On Morning Joe, the governor added that the deployment is meant to coax riders back to the train by addressing fears of attack that are “not statistically significant but psychologically significant.” That is true: Before a mini-surge this January, the subway crime rate had fallen 3percent in 2023, and in February it was back down again, falling 15.4 percent over the same month last year.
As part of her plan, Hochul also proposed banning people from riding city buses and subways for three years if they have been convicted of a violent crime against a passenger. The governor compared it to losing your driver’s license after a DWI and said it would be an extension of a ban already on the books for those convicted of assaulting a transit worker. At her press conference, Hochul was asked what to do if you refuse to have your bag inspected. “Go home,” she replied.
