Kathy Hochul’s latest terrible idea: Militarized public transit

I get it. Any time there’s a violent assault on people using a public transit system, public officials feel compelled to “do something.” But New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s (D) reaction to the spike in crime on the New York City transit system is likely to either make the problem worse or create entirely new problems.

Yes, Guard units help out in the wake of natural disasters. But most Guard personnel are not military police or trained in police procedures, constitutional law, and related civil liberties statutes. If Hochul puts armed New York National Guard personnel on New York City’s subway system, she’s inviting a tragedy — one that could be easily avoided by giving Mayor Eric Adams the money and resources he needs to redeploy existing New York Police Department personnel to beef up security on the transit system.

America’s National Guard units are part of the military’s “Total Force” policy adopted after the Vietnam War when the draft was ended and the country’s all-volunteer military force came into existence. It provides much of the combat power — armor, infantry, artillery, and engineering units — needed to augment regular Army units in the event of a war, like the 1991 Persian Gulf War or the subsequent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They are trained first and foremost to fight, kill, and win in armed conflict.

I know because for 11 years, I was a member of America’s Guard and Reserve forces, and it’s what my fellow unit members and I were trained to do — fight a foreign enemy with the object of killing, surviving ourselves, and winning the fight.

Is that actually the situation on New York City’s mass transit system? Has there been a spike in physical assaults in the system? Yes. But has it become a war zone requiring the threat of a lethal, military response?

No.

As NBC News reported just last week, “For the year, subway crime is still up 13% compared to 2023, with assaults on the transit system up 11%. NYPD transit police are investigating 86 assaults, up from last year’s 77.”

That is not an increase requiring the deployment of at least 750 military personnel trained to fight a high-intensity war on a foreign battlefield.

Hochul is also embracing a narrative advanced by Donald Trump — the use of National Guard personnel to deal with what are, by definition, legal and human policy problems.

As PBS reported late last year, while campaigning in Iowa ahead of that state’s 2024 GOP primary contest, Trump called New York City and Chicago “crime dens.” He’s aggressively encouraged Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to defy federal authorities and deploy the Texas National Guard to the Eagle Pass area of the state to deter illegal crossings through the employment of razor wire and other measures. By reflexively deploying the NY National Guard to New York City’s subway system, she’s validating Trump’s narrative that the American military is needed to maintain law and order in U.S. cities — in the same way the authoritarian regimes in Russia and China do in their societies.

Hochul is also ignoring the fact that the random bag searches the NYPD already employs — and which are constitutionally dubious at best — have done nothing to stop the latest attacks. Most of those have involved individuals employing melee weapons (knives, shanks, etc.) or other hand-held objects easily concealable in a jacket or pocket. The bag searches are simply a physical manifestation of “security theater.”

The only thing Hochul is doing right is detailing some New York State Police personnel to help out with increased security. At least those police have an understanding of the law and Constitution, even if they don’t always follow it. Asking nearly a thousand Guard personnel trained to fight a war to become armed police without the proper training will make matters worse on the transit system, not better.

Cato Institute senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties Patrick Eddington spent 11 years in the National Guard and Reserve.