New York City to Install Gun Detectors in Subway Stations as Violent Crime Rises

New York City will soon install gun detectors in its subway stations as crime becomes a top concern for New Yorkers, Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday.

The new police technology, designed to scan people for firearms only, will be rolled out in the citywide subway system once the 90-day waiting period ends in late June. City officials will use the next three months to get feedback from the community about the body scanners and make any suggested changes to the public-safety program.

“We are taking the next step forward in our ongoing efforts to make our subways even safer and ensure New Yorkers feel safer,” Adams said at a news conference.

Thursday’s announcement comes after several recent high-profile violent crimes have plagued New York City’s subway stations. As recently as Monday, three people were attacked in separate incidents. These attacks occurred on the same day that Adams said he would send 800 more police officers to the subway in order to deter fare-beating.

Another incident earlier this month involved a 64-year-old man falling onto the tracks after someone kicked him in the back. Fortunately, the man was helped back up onto the platform before a train could arrive. And late last month, a train conductor was stabbed in the neck at a Brooklyn station. He survived the attack, despite the near-fatal injury.

Transit crime has increased by 4.4 percent so far this year compared with 2023, according to statistics from the New York Police Department. Additionally, a recent analysis by the New York Post revealed that the number of felony assaults on trains was up 53 percent in 2023 compared with pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

The recent crime surge has caused concern among New Yorkers, who now view safety and crime as the most important issue that the city’s government needs to prioritize, according to a Citizens Budget Commission report released this month.

In addition to the mayor’s crackdown on crime, New York governor Kathy Hochul has also taken steps to ensure the safety of transit passengers. On March 6, she announced the deployment of 750 New York National Guard members and 250 personnel from the state police and Metropolitan Transportation Authority to patrol subway platforms and conduct bag checks.

Adams and the NYPD presented a live demonstration of how the gun detectors work.

Metal objects such as phones or water bottles will not set off the Evolv-manufactured devices. Adams assured reporters that the technology has significantly improved since 2022, when the same detectors failed stress tests. Now they work almost every time, the mayor said.

Still, the gun-detection tech program faces criticism from the Legal Aid Society, which said: “Simply put, gun detection systems are flawed and frequently trigger false alarms, which induces panic and creates situations that could result in the loss of life.”

To start, the program will involve the introduction of a couple of gun detectors, while the NYPD conducts an analysis on which subway stations see the most transit crime. City Hall could then request funding for more detectors from the Department of Homeland Security and New York City businesses interested in contributing, Adams said, if the pilot proves to be successful.