NEW YORK (WABC) -- Governor Kathy Hochul revealed a five-point plan Wednesday to bring additional state resources to bear on combatting subway crime in New York City.
The plan includes the deployment of 750 National Guard members and 250 New York State and MTA police officers into the subway system, and additional teams to handle cases involving people exhibiting signs of mental illness.
The new deployment adds to the additional 1000 NYPD officers ordered into the subway last month to conduct bag checks and follows the slashing of a conductor and other high profile crimes.
Hochul is also calling for people deemed to be too dangerous by a judge to be banned from the subway. She is pushing for a state law that allows judges to block a person from riding the subway or buses for three years if they are convicted of attacking a passenger.
Hochul is asking for district attorneys to coordinate to keep these repeat offenders out of the transit system.
Judges will "need to hold up their end of the bargain" by exercising their discretion to hold them, she said.
Transit crime was actually down in February by more than 15% compared to February of 2023, but that follows a 45% increase in January, caused mainly by grand larcenies.
NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper said arrests in the subway system are up 45% this year and 3,000 arrests were made in the subway system in the first two months of the year, many of them repeat offenders.
Mayor Adams and NYPD Transit Chief Michael Kemper discuss plans to make subway riders feel safe.
Officials last week released statistics showing violent crimes underground are up 13% this year compared with last year. However, City Hall tried to dispute the numbers saying crime actually dropped last month.
"Overall crime is down," said Mayor Eric Adams. "Double-digit decreases in subway crime in February 2024."
Adams credits stepped-up police deployments and hundreds more officers underground.
A larger police presence and random bag checks are just some of the ways officials hope to confiscate weapons and contraband before they get past the turnstiles. The mayor recently revealed that two high-tech weapons detection systems are in development.
"They are doing an excellent job in identifying razors, knives, scissors other sharp objects," Adams said. "To me, that's a low bar. I want to be able to identify a gun. We have seen some promising technology that I think in the next, you know, year we're going to really see something that people felt was not possible."
The governor says cameras will be on every car by the end of the year, and cameras in every conductor booth are some of the resources being considered to make the subway system safer.
Malik Britton says he plants himself where he can't be thrown into an oncoming train as a protective tactic during his daily commute.
"Away from the tracks and nobody could push me or be behind me," he tells Eyewitness News. I'm pretty much against the beams."
For Abhijeet Singh, another fellow subway commuter, it's a matter of keeping a watchful eye.
"I have to watch my back," said Singh.
Despite the measures being taken to curb subway crime, most riders say they don't feel safe.
RELATED: Eyewitness News Neighborhood Crime Tracker
An aid and five children were also on the bus.
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