Straphangers could see weapons scanners in the subways in the next few days, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday — as officials touted a dip in crime in the city’s beleaguered transit system.
“It should be rolled out in the next few days to do our initial implementation” at a handful of stations, Adams told reporters at the Fulton Center transit hub.
He said NYPD brass briefed him Tuesday night on the soon-to-be pilot program, which the mayor unveiled during a March event in which he demonstrated a free-standing firearm-detecting scanner manufactured by Evolv.
“And they are looking at other companies as well. We are not locked into this company,” Adams added.
But NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper was more vague about the futuristic weapons scanner test.
He only offered that the NYPD had reached the end of a 90-day wait required by the city’s surveillance law to start testing the technology.
“Coming soon,” he said.
City Hall and NYPD officials declined to provide more specifics about when and where the weapons detectors will appear.
The detail-free reveal about the scanner tests came during a news conference in which Adams and MTA honcho Janno Lieber contended that the transit system is getting less violent, citing recent statistics.
Adams said that crime in the subways so far this year is down nearly 8% compared to 2023. Those crimes dropped 44% this week alone compared to the same time frame last year, he said.
“These numbers don’t lie,” Adams said.
“Our subway system is getting safer everyday. Today, it’s clear that our efforts are working.”
An underground crime wave rattled straphangers during the first months of 2024, as hooligans attacked MTA workers, punched and tried to rape a woman and kicked a straphanger onto the tracks.
One unhinged ruffian was fatally shot with his own gun after he attacked a man on a rush-hour train — a harrowing incident that came just days after Gov. Kathy Hochul deployed the National Guard into subways to perform bag checks.
The 20% surge in subway crime during the first two months this year faded as Adams and Hochul doubled-down on safety measures, including sending more cops into the subways.
“It is not the dystopian hellscape that our friends in the tabloid media sometimes portray,” Lieber said of subways.
One 94-year-old straphanger, who didn’t want to give his name, said he’s all for scanners.
“Because the world is what it is,” he said.
But another subway rider, Reid Simmons, wasn’t so sure.
“I don’t even care I just want a train,” the 44-year-old said.
Additional reporting by Hannah Fierick