New York's governor is sending the National Guard into the Big Apple's subway system to protect wary riders after a seemingly endless stream of high-profile violent crimes.
Governor Kathy Hochul revealed a five-point subway safety plan on Wednesday including a return to random NYPD bag checks in busy subway stations.
Along with 750 members of the NY National Guard, 250 members of the New York State Police and the MTA Police Department will be deployed across the vast underground system.
They will join an additional 1,000 NYPD officers New York City Mayor Eric Adams ordered into the subway last month due to a large spike in crime in January.
One of those incidents was a grandfather who was shot and killed in a Brooklyn subway station after he tried to break up a dispute over loud music.
"These brazen heinous attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated," Hochul said.
She announced a plan that will allow judges to ban people convicted of an assault within the system from the subway for three years as part of sentencing.
Hochul also called on judges to use their expanded discretion to set bail to keep repeat offenders off the streets.
"We Can't Afford To Not Act"
There is currently a provision that allows a transit ban as a term of sentencing for individuals who assault transit workers, and under the new plan it would be extended to include assaults of anyone within the system.
MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber said, "We can't afford to not act. The transit system is too important to the City and region to allow the perception of safety, or lack of it, to scare people away."
The MTA is accelerating the installation of cameras inside trains and Governor Hochul says new cameras will be focused on conductor cabins to protect workers.
The final part of the plan is allocating $20 million to expand a program to put mental health workers in the subway system to work with homeless and mentally unstable people living underground.
MTAPD Chief of Operations Thomas Taffe said, "I know that a focus on reducing the fear of crime is as important as reducing crime itself."
