Democratic New York Gov. Kathy Hochul told her constituents to “go home” Thursday if they don’t want their bags checked at subway stations throughout New York City.
Nearly 1,000 members of the New York state police, MTA police and National Guard were reportedly deployed throughout NYC’s busiest subway stations on Wednesday to allegedly help curb a spike in transit crime. Cameras will be installed throughout subway stations as a hopeful deterrent to criminals, and those using New York’s trains will have their belongings checked before traveling, according to tweets posted Wednesday by Hochul.
“Guess what? We’re going to take some strong action. There’s no [stop] and frisk, there’s no profiling. All this is a deterrent, saying, ‘you want to commit a crime? Go somewhere else, not on our subways'” Hochul told Good Day New York (GDNY). To this, the hosts pushed Hochul on the bag-searching aspect of the new policy. Apparently this process will be done “randomly.” But what happens if you don’t want your bag searched?
“Then go home. We’re not going to search you. You can say no. But you’re not taking the subway,” Hochul replied.
The GDNY hosts didn’t push any further on this topic, instead moving the conversation on to general lawlessness within the subway stations and around NYC in general. (RELATED: ‘What How Bad It Gets’: 50 Cent Says Los Angeles Is ‘Finished’ Over No-Bail Policies)
Hochul said the decision to protect her constituents was based more on their “feelings,” “emotions” and “psychology” rather than actual statistical rises in crime rates. She revealed her five-point plan on Wednesday, which includes: “[1] Increase public safety personnel [2] Introduce legislation to protect riders & workers [3] Add security cameras [4] Boost collaboration to hold offenders accountable [5] Expand SCOUT Teams,” she said in a tweet.
New York is also suffering under a major illegal migrant crisis that has seen life-long locals of the city want to give up any affiliation with it. One of these residents, Lady Gaga’s father Joe Germanotta, reportedly said the situation has led to late-night block parties, children being verbally sexually harassed, increased prostitution and more.