Hochul to add 250 National Guard troops to NYC subways

More National Guard soldiers will be assigned to NYC subways this holiday season to “reinforce safety” on the nation’s largest subway system, Gov. Kathy Hochul said during a press conference at Grand Central Terminal on Wednesday.

The transit system, which is state-run by the MTA, will add 250 guardsmen to the 750 already deployed to the network of trains throughout the city. Hochul stressed that the increase is not in response to an upward crime trend but rather gives riders a better “sense of security” while commuting.

“The presence of the National Guard not just makes a physical difference but psychological difference in how they feel about safety,” she said. 

The governor’s $100 million National Guard budget is separate from another high-profile security measure the MTA recently completed: Surveillance cameras in all subway rail cars. 

Initially proposed in 2022, cameras are now located in thousands of subway cars, with an additional 15,000 installed in subway stations, MTA officials said. 

“The caliber of the video is exceptional,” MTA chair and CEO Janno Lieber said. 

Camera surveillance gives the NYPD nearly instant notification when a crime occurs “faster than they ever have,” the department’s transit bureau chief, Joseph Gulotta, said.

Crime is down 10% in subways since March, Hochul reported. It is unclear if the decrease over most of 2024 is due to the presence of the National Guard, or other security measures such as more NYPD officers assigned to the transit system. 

Excluding 2020 and 2021, the NYPD reports that the number of reported crimes as of October in the city’s subway system is at its lowest year-to-date level since 2010 (1,785 vs. 1772), and the lowest level for any month of October since 2009 (168 vs. 155). 

Hochul first assigned 750 National Guard members to the subways in March 2024 to provide support for the NYPD’s baggage checks at heavily trafficked areas.