Gov. The National Guard is instructed not to carry military-grade assault rifle when they check passengers ‘ sacks for weapons, according to Kathy Hochul, who has pulled back the big weapons in her train health wave.
Many of the 750 soldiers Hochul sent on Wednesday to assess riders ‘ packs carrying devices, school books, or bags of shopping carried M4 revolvers, military assault rifle whose 5.56mm rounds can defeat some body armor.
Unlike their human counterpart, the Vr- 15, the M4s are capable of involuntary fire.
The government ordered the soldiers to carry out their work without their big guns after a flurry of reports reports revealing the rifle-carrying Watch users checking straphangers ‘ handbags at Grand Central and Penn Station. A Hochul spokeswoman confirmed to the Daily News that the order was given “immediately following the implementation” of the Guard for case checks.
Photos on information sites and social media showing well-armed troops checking riders ‘ house followed Hochul’s order to hide the long weapons. Legal libertarians are concerned that the governor’s subway carefully plan militarizes public transportation, which is another reason for the controversy.
Men were seen carrying the rifle also into Thursday, but the purchase took some time to put into practice.
But by Friday evening’s rush hour, no longer than a hundred men and law enforcement officers could be seen inside the No. 1 building. 4, 5, 6 and 7 carriages below Grand Central Terminal.
A large number of law enforcement officers and Guard people gathered near the entrance to the Nos. at Penn Station. 1, 2 and 3 railways, all wearing just revolvers.
A few hundred feet apart in the Long Island Rail Road atrium, two Guard people stood before a shop. One carried an M4.
” We’re with Empire Shield, but we’re supporting the case checking”, said the Guard part with the rifle. Joint Task Force Empire Shield is a long-running work pressure that regularly sends National Guard members to travel centers.
The Watch part acknowledged that bag-check places had been cleared of the long-guns. ” That’s why we’re standing far way from them”, he said.
Some people were concerned about the presence of Guard soldiers in the metro system, regardless of whether they carried rifles.
” No matter what arms they’re carrying, a Guardsman is still a Guardsman”, said Albert Fox Cahn, chairman of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project.
” It’s very careless and a cold symbol”, said Cahn, adding that he worried about” the standardization of military techniques” in the travel program.
Donna Lieberman, mind of the New York Civil Liberties Union, agreed.
She said in a statement that treating our public transportation system like a combat zone is an unnecessary reaction based on fear rather than facts.
” Deploying military personnel to the subways will not make New Yorkers feel safe”, she said” It will, unfortunately, create a perfect storm for tension, escalation and further criminalization of Black and Brown New Yorkers”.
The M4 rifle is a common item in the United States military, and most police military products, including the NYPD’s Disaster Service Unit and the New York State Police, use it.
The arms are n’t utterly foreign to the state’s transport system.
As part of the Empire Shield joint work force that began after the September 11 terror attacks and is tasked with deterring regional security threats, well-armed Guard soldiers are frequently stationed with M4s with M4s to the principal entrances at Grand Central Terminal, the Oculus at World Trade Center, and other areas.
A New York Guard spokesman told The News that bag-checking at subway stations was mandated by similar use-of-force guidelines to the Empire Shield task force, which states that deadly force is only permitted in cases where a person self-defenses or defends another person.
Guard members are not law enforcement officers. The spokesman said that if they observe a crime while deployed in the subway, they cannot arrest them. However, the law allows them to detain a suspect until law enforcement arrives.
Transit officials claim that the NYPD, which is still in charge of subway security, is playing second fiddle to the Guard members as well as State and MTA police officers.
Our transit system is not a “war zone,” according to NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell’s post on social media! and pointed out that the NYPD has conducted regular bag checks for more than 15 years.
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