NYC subway bag checks reminiscent of 'stop and frisk': advocates

NEW YORK CITY (PIX11) – Gov. Kathy Hochul’s plan to increase subway bag checks and ban violent offenders from the system will only further endanger vulnerable New Yorkers, a slew of advocates said Thursday. 

Dozens of electeds and community organizations pleaded with Hochul to “abandon [the] dangerous policies” they say won’t actually reduce subway violence. 

“In a city of eight million people, the public interest is not served by a militarized show of force in reaction to public safety concerns that may not be supported by actual data and that, nonetheless, are more likely to be remedied through other means,” reads the letter signed by state Senators Jabari Brisport, Julia Salazar, Cordell Cleare and other officials. 

Hochul recently announced she would deploy hundreds of National Guard members to conduct bag checks in New York City subways indefinitely — a move advocates say is reminiscent of New York City’s discriminatory “stop-and-frisk” policies. 

Saturating the subway system with police will result in “harsher outcomes” for New Yorkers of color and aren’t justified given a relatively low rate of subway crime, the advocates and electeds said.

City and state leaders have recently taken aim at recidivism as a key source of violent subway crime, something Hochul’s plan could intensify, the letter reads. 

Hochul proposed a ban on subway riders with certain violent convictions from riding for at least three years.

Such legislation will intensify the “cycle of reincarceration” by making it “virtually impossible” for some people to meet the requirements of their release from parole and probation, which can include employment, education, regular meetings and community service. 

“This proposed bill will put people who are already struggling with the challenges of reentry at risk of harmful cycles of reincarceration through circumstances that are often out of their control,” the letter reads. 

More effective interventions would include investments in housing, healthcare, education and employment opportunities, they write. 

"To achieve real safety, we need proven methods like community investments that will promote the health and economic well-being of residents," said Jin Hee Lee of the Legal Defense Fund.