Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Wednesday that she would deploy National Guard soldiers and State Police officers to the New York City subway system, where they will patrol platforms and help check bags.
Ms. Hochul said a large show of force in the system, which is operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, a state agency, would help commuters and visitors to the city feel safe.
Additional law enforcement officers would add to an already large presence in the subways, where Mayor Eric Adams ordered an additional 1,000 officers in February following a 45 percent spike in crime in January compared with the same time last year.
Ms. Hochul said she would deploy 1,000 members of the authority, the State Police and the National Guard to “conduct bag checks in the city’s busiest stations.”
“These brazen heinous attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated,” Ms. Hochul said during a news conference, referring to a number of recent high-profile assaults.
There will be 750 members of the New York National Guard and an additional 250 personnel from the State Police and the M.T.A.
They will be working with the New York Police Department to make sure no weapons are brought into the subways.
“No one heading to their job or to visit family or go to a doctor appointment should worry that the person sitting next to them possesses a deadly weapon,” she said.
Still, the deployment comes as overall statistics show a murkier picture of crime on the subways, where three homicides have taken place since January and several brutal assaults, including the stabbing of a transit worker on Feb. 29, have once again raised questions about the safety of the city’s transit system.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
