Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial plan to install gun-detection technology in New York’s struggling transit system is set to launch in lower Manhattan on Friday, The Washington Post has learned.
The pilot program for Evolv weapons scanners, announced by the tech-loving mayor in March, will be operational at the Fulton Street station ahead of the evening commute, according to sources.
A Post reporter saw workers setting up the extension cord-powered scanner, two iPads and a folding table at the transportation center around 3 p.m.
Governor Adams has hinted since last week that passengers may soon see the detectors in Metro stations, but the administration has remained silent about where and when the program will actually launch.
The Post first spotted the technician on Thursday under a black tablecloth next to the ticket barriers at the Fulton Street station.
On Friday afternoon, officers began moving the machines out at the police station ahead of a press conference the mayor is holding at 4.45pm.
Commuters who spoke to The Washington Post welcome the scanners as long as they are accurate and don’t get in the way of people in a hurry.
“I don’t care because I’m not armed,” said Ethan Lu, a 30-year-old software engineer from Brooklyn.
“If it makes it harder to get in, that’s not good,” he said, adding, “If they don’t do a good job, people are going to complain.”
“I think it’s necessary in this day and age,” said Melissa Williams, 40, who also lives in Brooklyn.
“I work as a security guard at a building and I see what kinds of things people try to bring in on a regular basis,” she said.
“We are concerned that it will affect travel to and from the station, but this is necessary. There has been a lot of violence on trains.”
It is unclear whether scanners will be installed at other hubs.
But the program could drag the administration into court, with civil rights groups already threatening legal action.
“Mayor Adams has been warned that if his administration moves forward with plans to install this dangerous, invasive and ineffective technology in local subway stations that will harm all New Yorkers, we will face him in court,” Jen-Vine Wong, supervising attorney for the Legal Aid Society’s Police Accountability Project, said Friday morning.
Legal Aid and the New York Civil Liberties Union argue that the detectors violate passengers’ Fourth Amendment rights against unlawful searches and seizures.
The groups also raised concerns about weapons-detection company Evolve, which is currently facing a lawsuit from investors who claim the company overstated the effectiveness of its gun scanners.
“The city acknowledges that these scanners are primarily intended to counter passengers’ ‘perceptions’ that riding the subway is unsafe. This is not a valid basis for a constitutional claim,” said NYCLU attorney Daniel Lambright.
“Slowing subway service with error-prone scanners and flooding the subways with police is simply security theater that turns all New Yorkers into suspects and diverts resources away from support services that help keep crime rates low, like housing, mental health and employment services.”
