After a series of violent incidents which left their mark in the American megacity, New York will deploy soldiers and new police reinforcements to secure its metro, used every day by millions of workers and tourists.
The Democratic Governor of New York State, Kathy Hochul, notably announced that 750 members of the National Guard, the equivalent of the military, would be deployed in New York's gigantic transportation network, which has more than 400 stations .
I'm committed to ensuring all New Yorkers feel safe on our subways.
To do that, we will:
1️⃣ Increase public safety personnel
2️⃣ Introduce legislation to protect riders & workers
3️⃣ Add security cameras
4️⃣ Boost collaboration to hold offenders accountable
5️⃣ Expand SCOUT Teams
— Governor Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) March 6, 2024
They will be added to the numbers of the New York Police Force (NYPD), already clearly visible on the platforms and in the corridors of the metropolis of the megacity, an initiative decided shortly after taking office in early 2022 by the mayor of the city, Democrat and former police officer Eric Adams.
New York, a megacity of 8.5 million inhabitants marked by strong socio-economic inequalities, had experienced a sharp increase in crime during the Covid pandemic and delinquency figures had fallen since.
Serial violence
But since the start of the year, several violent incidents have taken place in the metro.
On February 12, shots fired in a station in the Bronx and attributed to a rivalry between gangs left one person dead, a 34-year-old man, and five injured.
At the end of February, a subway conductor was also stabbed in a Brooklyn station.
In recent days, a man was also pushed onto the tracks and other attacks occurred.
The number of serious crimes in the transport network jumped by almost 50% in January compared to the same month in 2023.
“These heinous and brazen attacks against our metro system will not be tolerated,” declared the governor, while security will be one of the issues of the next American presidential election in November.
Reinforced controls
The deployment of National Guard soldiers will notably aim to help the New York police strengthen checks of passengers' bags in the busiest stations.
“People fear they will be the next (victims), anxiety sets in,” added Kathy Hochul.
Passengers “should not fear that a person sitting next to them is carrying a knife (…) this is what we are going to do with these checkpoints”, she also assured.
Kathy Hochul promised the deployment of additional video surveillance cameras and announced plans to more easily prohibit access to the metro for people convicted of assaulting a transport system employee.
Before the series of incidents that have occurred in recent weeks, the most serious episode dates back to April 2022, when a man opened fire on a train in Brooklyn, during rush hour, injuring several dozen people.
The perpetrator of the shooting was sentenced to life in prison in October 2023 for terrorist acts.