Let’s militarize the subways. What could go wrong?
That’s what Gov. Kathy Hochul has inexplicably chosen to do by sending 750 members of the National Guard, packing automatic weapons, into the New York City subway system to provide a reassuring presence to commuters and to check their bags.
This sounds like it’s going to be more of an arduous process than having those cute dogs sniff your backpack or suitcase at the ferry terminals. State Police troopers are also being deployed as part of the effort.
First of all, let’s talk practical logistics. There are around 470 subway stations in the city. Some stations have multiple entrances and exits.
How is the National Guard supposed to cover them all?
If someone with something to hide knows that the soldiers are at one entrance, they can just use another. Or they can go to the next station uptown or downtown to avoid a search.
So putting the National Guard in the subway system is little more than public safety theater. Or a bid to get New Yorkers used to a military presence among us so that the state can bigfoot its way across the city whenever it feels like it.
I don’t know about you, but seeing armed soldiers in the subway, or anywhere on city streets, doesn’t necessarily fill me with happy, reassuring thoughts. At least not outside of times of war or pandemic. Passengers get rattled enough whenever they see a Coast Guard boat shadowing the Staten Island Ferry.
Seeing soldiers makes me think that there’s an emergency. That we need to be on high alert. The military shouldn’t be used for public policing. They have other jobs to do. Let the NYPD do the policing.
This kind of over-militarization is the stuff that the Founding Fathers warned us about.
And if New Yorkers refuse to have their bags inspected? They can go home and not use the subway, Hochul says. What other autocratic conditions can the state place on us for use of public services? What’s next, demands to show our papers?
Things in the subway are bad. I know that. Subway personnel are getting attacked. Passengers are being pushed off of platforms. New Yorkers don’t feel safe underground, even though Mayor Eric Adams has said that crime is down, both in the city overall and in the subway system.
But sometimes perception is reality. Passengers have concerns. But we’re not scared to the point that we need to call out the National Guard. It doesn’t mean I want soldiers rummaging through my personal effects.
And let’s be honest. If this effort does happen to snare a criminal or two, what are the odds that that suspect is actually going to spend any time in jail?
S. Forrest was hit on the head with a bottle recently while playing cello in the subway. The woman who accused of the assault, Amira Hunter, was freed without bail. She was later arrested for shoplifting and had to post $500 bail for that offense.
Heck, the suspects arrested in the Long Island body parts case were released without bail. What would a subway passenger have to have in their backpack in order to face serious repercussions?
It looks like Hochul did learn a thing or two while she was serving as Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s number two.
In a slap at then-Mayor Bill de Blasio, Cuomo in 2017 sent New York State Police troopers to patrol city roadways, even though those roadways were already being patrolled by multiple law enforcement agencies.
Now Hochul looks to bigfoot Adams on crime. She should let the NYPD do its job.
Hochul tears a page out of Cuomo’s book by sending National Guard into NYC subway (opinion)
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11.03.2024
Let’s militarize the subways. What could go wrong?
That’s what Gov. Kathy Hochul has inexplicably chosen to do by sending 750 members of the National Guard, packing automatic weapons, into the New York City subway system to provide a reassuring presence to commuters and to check their bags.
This sounds like it’s going to be more of an arduous process than having those cute dogs sniff your backpack or suitcase at the ferry terminals. State Police troopers are also being deployed as part of the effort.
First of all, let’s talk practical logistics. There are around 470 subway stations in the city. Some stations have multiple entrances and exits.
How is the National Guard supposed to cover them all?
If someone with something to hide knows that the soldiers are at one entrance, they can just use another. Or they can go to the next station uptown or........
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