Mayor Eric Adams has announced a new initiative that places AI-powered gun-detecting scanners in subway stations amid a series of reports of violence on the city’s transportation system.
The pilot is the latest in a series of measures taken by the mayor’s office and the NYPD to reassure the public after a series of high-profile stabbings, a shooting and other online crimes in recent months.
The initiative will see Evolv portable weapons detectors placed in selected underground locations in an attempt to catch those traveling with weapons.
EVOLV uses artificial intelligence technology to detect weapons and counts the Met and Lincoln Center among its clients.
“If EVOLV had a 70 percent hit rate, that’s 70 percent more than now,” Adams said at a news conference Thursday.
Mayor Eric Adams has announced a new initiative that places AI-powered gun-detecting scanners in subway stations.
EVOLV uses artificial intelligence technology to detect weapons, but will not be available for at least another 90 days while the technology undergoes testing.
It comes just weeks after the National Guard was also deployed to the system following a series of high-profile attacks that included shootings and stabbings.
‘This is a Sputnik moment. “President Kennedy said, ‘Let’s put a man on the moon,’ and everyone responded,” he added in a bold comparison.
The system pilot may take some time before New Yorkers see the scanners on their trip.
The technology must first be tested and then go through a 90-day waiting period for evaluation, Adams explained.
Earlier this month, National Guard troops were deployed to the subway system in an effort to make commuters feel safer.
“Public safety is real safety and it’s how people feel,” Adams said at Thursday’s briefing.
‘We know that we have more than 4 million users per day and a reliable system. “We know we commit approximately six serious crimes a day among those 4 million passengers,” he said.
He added: “But if they don’t feel safe, then we are not doing our job.” Statistics don’t matter if people don’t believe they are in a safe environment.’
As of Thursday, police officers had seized a total of 450 guns, including 21 illegal weapons in the subway system this year, according to Mayor Adams’ administration.
Earlier this month, National Guard troops were deployed to the subway system in an effort to make commuters feel safer.
A harrowing video reveals the moments before a shooting on the New York subway, where an agitator accuses another man of being a “migrant who beats the police” in a heated argument.
The 36-year-old man, who appeared to start the argument, was shot in the head with his own gun after the other man, 32, grabbed his gun and opened fire.
In separate images after the shooting, a train car full of people is seen cowering in fear and begging the subway to move away from the crime.
The NYPD also confiscated 1,515 weapons in the subway system in 2023, including 1,470 cutting instruments and 45 illegal firearms.
The figures reflect a marked increase from the previous year, when a total of 947 weapons were seized, including 912 cutting instruments and 35 pistols.
There have been three homicides in progress at the beginning of the year, compared to none at this time last year.
However, officials said crime in the subway has dropped 15 percent so far in March compared to the same period last year.
Despite this, high-profile crimes continue to shock the city.
Last week, a 24-year-old man shoved a 54-year-old man in the path of an arriving train in East Harlem.
A subway driver was also slashed in the neck last month and a 35-year-old man was shot on the Bronx subway last month.
Also earlier this month there was a fatal shooting on an A train after a fight broke out between two men and the agitator ended up being shot in the head with his own gun.
The 36-year-old man who was shot accused the other man of being a “police-beating migrant” in angry scenes as other passengers struggled to escape.
The other man, 32, then stabbed him and shot him in the head with his own gun after it was snatched from him in the melee on a Brooklyn train.
In separate images after the shooting, a train car full of people was seen cowering in fear and pleading with the subway to move away from the crime.
‘Where is the NYPD, oh my God?’ one woman exclaimed while others said, ‘close the door, close the door!’
The wild scenes also included the alleged gunman’s 32-year-old female companion, who appeared to pull a knife from her pocket and stab the other man in the back several times.