Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo slammed his successor’s decision to deploy the National Guard to New York City subway stations — arguing instead for more police officers to patrol underground.
Cuomo claimed Gov. Hochul’s directive to station hundreds of troops in the subway system to check bags is useless, saying it cannot serve as a viable long-term solution to combat crime.
“You need police,” Cuomo told John Catsimatidis & Rita Cosby Wednesday on the “Cats & Cosby Show.“
“The National Guard are not police and we don’t have to reinvent the wheel here,” Cuomo said.
Under Hochul’s order, 750 National Guardsmen and 250 state and MTA cops were sent to patrol the subway stations, a decision she staunchly defended as a crime deterrent that would calm commuters’ “anxiety.”
The troops — who were heavily armed until the governor banned the use of long guns this week — conduct bag checks for straphangers, which Cuomo said would do nothing to stop rising transit crime because they are not properly trained for the task.
“Why is there a spike in crime in the subway system? Because you have the lowest level of police in the subway system in a decade,” Cuomo said.
“You don’t need the National Guard checking bags. You need transit police in the system. That’s the answer … This is not what the National Guard does. It’s not what they’re trained to do.”
Hochul had pushed back against hiring more NYPD officers earlier this week, claiming it would entail a time-consuming process of making funding requests, a pointless venture when she has the National Guard at her immediate disposal.
Cuomo called hogwash, however, accusing Hochul of making a political decision based on national pushback against police departments.
“We still have a hangover from this ‘defund the police,’” Cuomo said.
“It’s just politics where the [city] council doesn’t want to hire police, and the state doesn’t want to say you should hire more police because it is this hangover [from] ‘defund the police.’”
The former governor said the tide against a stronger police presence in New York City has subsided, and pointed to Mayor Adams’ 2021 election.
“New Yorkers elected a police officer as mayor. The signal is undeniable. You elect a former police officer because you’re saying, ‘I want public safety.’ We have fewer cops today than when they elected Mayor Adams,” he continued.
Subway crime spiked 45% in January compared to the same month a year prior — but dropped 15% in February, which Adams credited to new NYPD patrols on the subway.
Crime on the subway is up 13% overall for the year, according to NYPD statistics.
Hochul’s deployment of the National Guard is part of a larger five-point plan to make the subways safer, which includes:
- Influx of 1,000 National Guardsmen, state and MTA cops.
- Law to allow judges to ban transit assault perps from trains, buses.
- Installation of CCTV cameras in all train cars, conductor cabins.
- Better coordination between NYPD and district attorneys to thwart recidivists.
- $20 million to expand Subway Co-Response Outreach mental health teams.
