(NewsWorthy.news) – Democratic New York Governor Kathy Hochul sent the National Guard into the New York City subway system on March 6 in response to a recent spike in crime. A force of almost 1,000 people comprising state police officers, transit officers, and 750 members of the National Guard was ordered to carry out bag checks at some of the busiest subway stations.
Hochul stated that the move was intended to protect both commuters and transit workers and rid the subways of those committing crimes. She told reporters that no one should have to worry about sitting next to someone possessing a deadly weapon when heading to a job, doctor’s appointment or family visit.
The move was criticized by activists for police reform and some local residents. The Police Reform Organizing Project’s founder Robert Gangi argued that sending the force into the subway would result in further criminalizing of black and brown commuters who are already monitored by the New York Police Department.
Police accountability advocates slated the announced deployment. Gangi said the plan was a waste of resources and “overkill”. One X user called the move dystopian. Another said the subway was perfectly safe and that they commuted with their child daily.
Republican Senator for Arkansas Tom Cotton ridiculed the New York Times’ reporting of the move, which he summed up as “sending in troops to restore law and order”. New York Times writers revolted en masse in 2020 over an article by Cotton printed by the newspaper. The article called on Trump to send troops into the city to control riots that followed the death of George Floyd in police custody.
Aaron Sibarium, a reporter for the Washington Free Beacon, commented on X that whereas Cotton had called for the use of the National Guard to control some of the most violent riots in the country’s history, Hochul was utilizing them for everyday law enforcement purposes.
Thomas Taffe, chief of operations for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police Department, claimed that the move was aimed at reducing fear and that the response to the feeling of disorder and fear was as important as policing the crime itself. Outkick founder Clay Travis noted on X that the head of the New York Times’ editorial page was fired for publishing Cotton’s article. He highlighted the hypocrisy of the paper reporting on a move it had previously decried as racist four years earlier.
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