New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city plans to install “electromagnetic weapons detection systems” in subway stations.

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

“For the use of technology by the NYPD, will be publishing the impact and use policy for electromagnetic weapons detection systems,” he continued. “This kicks off the 90-day waiting period before this type of technology can be tested and used in our city.”

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“Keeping New Yorkers safe on our subways is key to keeping this the safest big city in America. State of the art weapons detection technology and a $20 million investment in supporting those with severe mental illness will help us make that happen,” Adams said.

“New Technology to Detect Weapons to Be Piloted 90 Days After Publication of Impact and Use Policy as Required by Law,” the City of New York announced.

“City to Begin Hiring Clinicians to Support Expansion of SCOUT Pilot Program to Help Untreated Severe Mental Illness with $20 Million State Investment.”

From nyc.gov:

New York City Mayor Eric Adams and New York City Police Department (NYPD) Commissioner Edward A. Caban today announced efforts being taken to make the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s (MTA) subway system safer by investing in new technology to detect firearms, as well as invest in more clinicians that will help those suffering from severe mental illness in the nation’s largest subway system. The city is exploring, and will soon begin piloting, emerging technologies designed to detect weapons carried by travelers into the transit system. In accordance with the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology (POST) Act, the NYPD also published online its Impact and Use Policy for electromagnetic weapons detection systems, starting a mandatory 90-day waiting period before new technology can be tested and used in New York City. Additionally, Mayor Adams announced that the city will begin hiring clinicians to support the expansion of the Subway Co-Response Outreach Teams (SCOUT), a pilot program launched in partnership with the state and the MTA to connect people with untreated severe mental illness in the subways to mental health treatment and care.

“Today’s announcement is the next step in our ongoing efforts to keep dangerous weapons out of our transit system and to provide greater mental health services for New Yorkers in crisis. By kicking off a 90-day waiting period to test electromagnetic weapons detection systems here in New York City and hiring more clinicians for SCOUT, we are showing our administration’s dedication to keeping all New Yorkers safe,” Adams commented.

“Since the start of my administration, Mayor Adams and I have worked together closely to keep the subways safe for all New Yorkers,” said New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

“This month, I announced a five-point plan to improve safety in the subways, including dedicating $20 million to expand the SCOUT program, which will help more New Yorkers receive the treatment they need. The new technology announced today builds on our existing commitments to place cameras throughout the system and will help law enforcement keep dangerous weapons out of the system,” she added.

Fox News reports:

Crime in NYC subway stations has gotten so out of control that Democratic Mayor Eric Adams announced Thursday that body scanners are coming to the city’s stations.

The scans will be used to detect weapons entering the subway stations, as city officials have been trying to deter a sharp uptick in criminal activity.

“We are going to use technology to identify those bad people who are carrying bad weapons,” Adams said Thursday. “And I say to those who are afraid of scanners who rather not walk through it, I rather you be safe – so let’s bring on the scanners.”

Adams said the city will undergo a 90-day waiting period for the scanners to be tested before they can be implemented in every station. In addition to the scanners, the city will hire more mental health clinicians to work alongside the New York Police Department (NYPD) “to swiftly move individuals with untreated severe mental illness out of the subway system and into care.”

“This duality of technology and our mental health approach is going to accomplish the goal that we seek – transit riders should be safe, our city should be safe, people should receive the care that they deserve,” Adams said.

Adams’ announcement comes in the same week that three stabbings took place in and around the Big Apple’s subway system. The city announced it was deploying 800 more police to patrol its crime-ridden subways — even after around 750 National Guard troops were deployed to the underground system earlier this month and 1,000 additional police were added in February.

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