Gov. Hochul (D-NY) pissed off some liberals (I'm not happy myself) in response to an uptick in subway crime. How much is unclear after Mayor Adams also tweeted how crime has gone down.
National Guard members will be "deployed" (is NYC akin to Iraq?) to search bags at subways. If you refuse, no entry.
(To quote a NY Daily News article linked below: "Gov. Hochul is deploying 750 members of the Guard and 250 state and MTA police officers to subway stations to inspect passengers’ bags following a spate of violent incidents across the system.")
This has been upheld constitutionally in the past though the one case I found involved explosives and terrorists. Is a more general policy acceptable? Contra one legal podcast (if on another issue), it doesn't really sound like this is about "border searches." It is more a "special circumstances" situation such as schools and courthouses.
That doesn't mean it's a good policy. I think she should stick with more local police, cameras, and better organization.
She also supports legislation to deny people who were convicted of violent crimes on public transportation the right to ride there for three years.
One lawyer flagged this as unconstitutional. Again, it seems overbroad and unlikely to do much:
Danny Pearlstein, a spokesperson for the advocacy group Riders Alliance, said in a statement that the governor's move was "well-intentioned" but "more likely to increase the perception of crime among people who don't ride public transit than to protect the millions of riders and workers on platforms and trains each day."
Pearlstein urged officials to invest more in "housing, healthcare and other critical social services to address the root causes" of violence across the city.
We are reminded again that Andrew Cuomo chose her as his lieutenant governor. Toss in a former long-term police officer as New York City mayor, you are going to get this sort of thing. New York is "blue," but it is far from consistently liberal.
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Thanks for your .02!