(Photo : NYC Mayor's Office)
New York City is going to test using gun detection devices in the subway system.
The NYPD is testing new technology to detect firearms being brought into New York City's subway stations.
Mayor Eric Adams touted the "emerging technologies" to keep guns out of the nation's largest subway system.
The mobile electromagnetic weapons detection systems will be tested and used after a 90-day waiting period required by law for testing new technology.
"Let's bring on the scanners," Adams said at a news conference announcing the program.
"Keeping New Yorkers safe on the subway and maintaining confidence in the system is key to ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America."
Adams says the technology uses A.I. to be able to zoom in on where a gun is on an individual.
He claimed the machines would not use facial recognition or collect biometric data.
At the end of the waiting period, a pilot program will be instituted in some subway stations where the NYPD can further evaluate the equipment's effectiveness.
Earlier this month, a subway rider wrestled a gun away from a man with whom he got into a brawl and shot him in the head. Meanwhile, police have seized 450 weapons in the New York City transit system this year, according to city officials. That's up from 261 in the same period last year.
"Riders have to feel safe when riding the subways and that requires innovation - new weapons detection technology, but also increased deployments of police, tougher handling of repeat offenders by the criminal justice system, and expanded resources for mental health," said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber.
Last month, Adams ordered an additional 1,000 police officers to be deployed into the subway service. City officials insist that subway crime is down but that has not calmed riders who have seen several high-profile crimes and killings.
Adams could not say how many of the gun detection machines the city would deploy if the test was successful.
Officials showed a weapon detector by a company named Evolv. Federal authorities are investigating the company for previously making false claims about its machines.
