New York will take the extraordinary step of deploying National Guard troops to patrol its subway system, following a spate of violent attacks that have unnerved riders and sparked fresh claims from Republicans of lawlessness in America’s biggest cities.
The plan was announced on Wednesday morning by Kathy Hochul, the state’s Democratic governor. Among the recent incidents that prompted the move was the slashing in the neck of a train conductor and an assault on a cellist performing in a subway station as part of a musical charity.
“These brazen, heinous attacks on our subway system will not be tolerated,” Hochul said as she unveiled the five-point plan.
The most visible element will be the deployment of 750 National Guard troops, along with 250 state and transit police, throughout the system to check passengers’ bags for guns and knives. The governor is also promising additional surveillance cameras, calling them “an essential deterrent”.
Eric Adams, the New York City mayor and a former transit police captain, has made restoring public safety the centrepiece of his first term. It is a priority that business leaders have insisted is vital to the city’s post-pandemic recovery.
Police statistics showed a 1 per cent decrease in February for overall crime compared with the same period a year ago, and a 15 per cent drop in “major offences” on the subway. But that came after a nearly 50 per cent jump in subway crime in January, including a case in which a man died after being shoved on to the tracks.
As Hochul noted, there is a psychological dimension to assaults in the dark and cramped quarters of the underground system that transcends mere statistics. “People worry they could be next,” she said.
New York’s effort to restore a sense of security to subway riders and transit workers has played out amid a wider political fight about crime in America’s large cities. Taking their cues from Donald Trump, Republican leaders have repeatedly blamed Democratic policies for throwing cities into disorder.
Basking in his commanding victory in the Republican primaries on Super Tuesday, Trump returned to the theme during a celebration at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.
“It’s sad to see what’s happening to our cities. Our cities are being overrun with migrant crime,” Trump told supporters on Tuesday evening.
Republicans have focused on crime in New York City not only as a campaign issue but, seemingly, as a way to undermine the legal authorities pursuing Trump. Last April they held a congressional hearing in the city devoted to the issue of violent crime.
Much of the session was dedicated to attacks on Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan district attorney, whose criminal case against Trump — focused on hush-money payments to a porn star with whom he allegedly had an affair — goes to trial later this month.
Democrats have countered by pointing to statistics showing that per-capita crime rates are actually lower in big cities such as New York than in many of the more rural districts dominated by Republicans.
