‘Not in a rush’ hour

Back to my ol’ stomping grounds for security blog fodder this week, as NYC made history on July 26 by introducing weapons detection technology for the first time in the nearly 120-year history of the subway system.

While I applaud NYC Mayor Eric Adams and the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD’s) efforts to stop subway violence and keep the underground safe for straphangers, one question keeps popping into my head every time I think of the concept of stopping riders and asking them to get their bags checked and walk through a scanner before getting on a train – Is the concept of “rush hour” being tossed aside?

As someone who rode the subways daily for nearly 10 years, I know all about the daily hustle and bustle of folks running to catch the train before the doors close on them, being packed in like sardines in a subway car to get to their job, school or home, or wherever else they may be headed.

Remember, this is New York City, and according to the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) – the largest public transportation agency in North America - approximately 3.2 million people ride the subway every day.

You’re telling me that in the heart of rush hour - which here in NYC means between 7:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m., and in the afternoons/evenings between 4:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. – that MTA police are going to ask someone rushing frantically to catch a train to make it to work on time to stop, get their bag check, and walk through a scanner?

And just to add to that straphanger’s frustration, if that person refuses to get their bag checked and walk through the weapons detection scanner, he/she will not be allowed to get on the subway!

Now, as Deputy Commissioner Michael Gerber, legal matters, NYPD, explained during the July 26 press conference at the Fulton St. subway station – the location of the first deployment of Evolv Technology’s AI-enhanced weapons detection systems – subway riders will be chosen to have their bags checked based on a certain count that is set at each station, whether it’s every 10th, 15th, 20th rider, and so on.

But still, those randomly selected subway riders who are in a rush to get their final destination would have to be somewhat startled, miffed, frustrated – choose whatever adjective you’d like – to find out that they must stop in their tracks (pun intended) because they were selected to get their bag checked and walk through a scanner.

Now, I’m all for protecting subway riders, especially in light of statistics that the Office of the Mayor of New York City released earlier this year showing that the NYPD seized 1,515 weapons in the subway system in 2023, compared to 947 weapons the previous year – a nearly 60% increase. 

And I’m not against the pilot program that Mayor Adams and the MTA rolled out, but maybe the times that the scanners would be activated could be modified so that riders would not be stopped at the busiest times of the day. Maybe more transit cops could be stationed on the platforms during morning and evening rush, while the scanners could be deployed during the midday hours.

Albert Fox Cahn, head of the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project – a 501(C)(3), non-profit advocacy organization and legal services provider – expressed his dismay about the havoc these scanners could cause, going so far as to call them “knockoff TSA checkpoints.”

“People love the idea of a magical machine, but they’ll be furious of the reality of long lines and endless errors,” Cahn told the NY Daily News.

As the rollout of these weapons detection scanners continues, the concept of “rush hour” in NYC subways is being derailed.