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After a Increase in violence in the New York subway In recent weeks, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said security cameras have been installed in “every subway car” in the city, which she said will help police fight and “solve crimes even faster.”
This comes amid a spate of violent crime incidents on the New York City subway system, including a homeless woman burned alive by an illegal immigrant and a a man is pushed in front of an oncoming subway.
It also follows the high profile trial of ex-marine Daniel Pennywho was charged but later acquitted of manslaughter for his actions in defending subway passengers from a mentally unstable homeless man named Jordan Neely.
Hochul, a Democrat, announced his deployment of 1,000 National Guard members to patrol the New York City subway, saying, “Public safety is my highest priority.” He also claimed credit for directing the state’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to install cameras in subway cars, which he said has now been completed.
Kathy Hochul announced new plans Wednesday to address rising crime in New York City’s subways. (Getty Images)
“The recent spike in violent crime in our public transit system cannot continue, and we must address this crisis head-on,” he said. “I told the MTA to install security cameras in every subway car, and now that the project is complete, these cameras are helping police solve crimes even faster.”
Hochul went on to stress that “many of these horrific incidents have involved people with untreated serious mental illness,” which he said is “a result of the lack of treatment for people who live on the streets and are disconnected from our mental health . care system”.
He blamed weak state laws and “nearly half a century of disinvestment in mental health care and supportive housing,” which he said “directly contributed to the crisis we see on our streets and subways.”
HOCHUL DEPLOYS HUNDREDS OF NATIONAL GUARD MEMBERS TO NYC SUBWAY SYSTEM
Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and died in New York, on December 22, 2024. Police believe the woman was sleeping in aboard the train when a man approached him. and set it on fire. She was pronounced dead at the scene. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Hochul said he would introduce legislation to change New York’s laws governing the involuntary commitment of the dangerous mentally unstable people to improve the process by which a court may order certain individuals to participate in assisted outpatient treatment.
“We cannot fully address this problem without changes to state law,” he said. “Hospitals can currently commit people whose mental illness puts them or others at risk of serious harm, and this legislation will expand that definition to ensure more people get the care they need.”
Despite those commitments, Hochul is being criticized for not being stronger in protecting New Yorkers who ride the subway.
“The governor is all talk and no action,” said Curtis Sliwa, activist and founder of the “Guardian Angels”, a citizen law enforcement group known for patrolling and providing assistance to subway passengers.
‘GUARDIAN ANGELS’ FOUNDER CALLS OUT NEW YORK’S SANCTUARY CITY POLICIES AFTER WOMAN IS SET ON FIRE
Members of the Guardian Angels participate in a security patrol at a subway stop to prevent crime on June 11, 2021 in New York, New York. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Sliwa told Fox News Digital that Hochul should “use his power” and call out individual members of the state legislature who refuse to support legislation to commit the emotionally disturbed to state mental hospitals.
“He needs to tell them that he will not sign any of his initiatives into law until they support his subway initiative,” Sliwa said.
He also claimed that the MTA further spurred violent crime by allowing fare evasion to “explode to the point where 30% of subway riders don’t pay their fare.”
“The governor needs to take back control of who comes in and out of the system,” he said. “Without control of who gets in, then all other government initiatives will result in more tax dollars being spent with little or no results. Everything will change when you restrict who gets on the subway.”
Police investigate at the Coney Island-Stillwell Avenue station in Brooklyn after a woman aboard a subway car was set on fire and died in New York on December 22, 2024. Police believe the woman was sleeping in board the train when a man approached her and set her on fire. She was pronounced dead at the scene. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Joe Borelli, New York City Council Memberone Republican, meanwhile, blamed Democrats for instituting soft-on-crime policies that have led to more violence in New York.
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“Successful Democratic governors have closed mental health facilities and eroded the very system that now says we need,” Borelli told Fox News Digital. “What we really need to do is look at the bail reform and ‘raise the age’ laws that his party put in place in 2019 and see how the trajectory of criminal behavior went up after that.”
