Gun scanners in subway stations
The NYPD is set to start rolling out new technology that will scan straphangers for firearms in subway stations amid a wave of underground violence, Mayor Adams said Thursday.
Hizzoner showed off one of the freestanding, walkthrough devices — which has a screen on which any firearm will appear as an orange blob — during a demonstration at the Fulton Transit Center in lower Manhattan.
“This is our Sputnik moment,” Adams said. “Like when Kennedy said we’re going to put a man on the moon . . . Let’s bring on the scanners.”
The mayor wouldn’t say how many of the scanners will be set up in the subway system — or at which stations — when the program eventually gets underway in the coming months.
The exact logistics, too, weren’t immediately clear — including whether every straphanger will have to walk through the scanner, or if there’s a chance they could just sidestep the detector altogether.
Maybe more cops?
Critics were quick to rip the new tech, with law-enforcement sources telling The Post the city should just invest in more cops instead.
“We don’t need more robots, we need cops. Not just for the trains, but for patrol and everywhere else. Robots will not fix anything,” one cop source said. “[NYPD] is playing
TSA now in the subways — just another inconvenience in the subway system.”
During a demonstration of the new technology, which comes from weapons-detection company Evolv, Adams noted the NYPD would keep tabs on a screen as a commuter walks through the device.
If a firearm is detected, the location will flash up orange — allowing cops to carry out a search of the person in that specific area.
The city’s Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters, Michael Gerber, acknowledged it was a New Yorker’s right not to walk through the devices — but stopped short of saying whether a straphanger would still be allowed onto a train if they refused.