The National Guard is not allowed to carry long weapons while checking luggage on the subway
Shortly after Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that hundreds of National Guard soldiers would be deployed to patrol the New York City subway system and check passengers’ bags, her office made an adjustment: Soldiers who searched bags would not be allowed to carry long weapons.
The change, that was first reported by The Daily News, was ordered by Ms. Hochul on Wednesday for implementation on Thursday, a spokesman for the governor said. Ms. Hochul issued a directive that National Guard members would be prohibited from carrying long weapons at bag check stations, he said. Soldiers who did not work at the stations would probably be allowed to wear them.
Donna Lieberman, executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, called the ban on long guns at bag checkpoints a “relief” but said the Guard’s underground presence remained “an unnecessary overreaction based on fear, not facts.” .
“Putting military personnel on the subway will not make New Yorkers feel safe,” Ms. Lieberman said. “It will unfortunately create a perfect storm for tension, escalation and further criminalization of black and brown New Yorkers.”
The first images of the National Guard deployment showed soldiers standing at turnstiles in the underground system, wearing camouflage and military gear and holding long rifles.
Ms. Hochul, a Democrat, said the move to flood the system with reinforcements — 750 members of the New York National Guard and another 250 personnel from the state police and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority — would make commuters and visitors feel safe.
Subway safety, an ongoing concern for New Yorkers, has been a challenging issue for public officials, who can be as sensitive to the perception that public transportation is dangerous as they are to an actual increase in crime.
In February, following a 45 percent spike in major crimes in the first month of the year compared to the same period last year, Mayor Eric Adams ordered an additional 1,000 police officers across the subway system. According to city data, reported crime rates in the system fell that month, and the overall increase in major crimes for the year beginning March 3 was 13 percent, police data shows.
Ms. Hochul’s announcement this week drew criticism from government officials and some members of her own party.
Jumaane N. Williams, the city’s public advocate, warned that the plan would “criminalize the public on public transportation.” Emily Gallagher, a representative and democratic socialist from Brooklyn, said that is Mrs. Hochul’s move was a “ham-fisted and authoritarian response” that validated “GOP propaganda about urban lawlessness in an election year.”
John Chell, chief of patrol for the police department, cited recent statistics indicating that transit crime had decreased.
“Our transit system is not a ‘war zone’!” He wrote on X.