Governor Hochul: “The National Guard are our neighbors; these are our moms and dads from our communities. They're there just as a deterrent to those who might think that they can get away with committing crime.”
Hochul: “I've had many calls and messages from people who say, thank you… A mom told me yesterday, she puts her teenage daughter on the subway or her teenage daughter goes to the subway and she says, I don't worry about her now because I know there's another set of eyes who are watching what's going on. And that's what this is about.”
Earlier today, Governor Kathy Hochul was a guest on PIX 11 to discuss her five-point plan to utilize state resources to protect New Yorkers on the subways. This includes surging State personnel to assist NYPD bag checks, a new program bill that would permit transit bans for individuals that assault other passengers, adding new cameras to protect conductor cabins, increasing coordination between District Attorneys and law enforcement, and increasing the number of Subway Co-Response Outreach (SCOUT) teams throughout the system – which will operate in addition to the existing Safe Options Support (SOS) teams.
AUDIO of the event is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:
Dan Mannarino, PIX 11: Governor Kathy Hochul joining us this morning live from Washington, D.C. after attending last night's State of the Union speech. Governor, good to see you this morning, thanks for being here.
Governor Hochul: Good morning.
Dan Mannarino, PIX 11: And we'll talk about the State of the Union in just a second. But we just played that sound from Chief Kemper right there, and there were other tweets from NYPD members calling it the war zone in the subway station, right? What exactly are your thoughts to the comments of it being a war zone? And do you stand by the decision to put the National Guard in the subways to begin with?
Governor Hochul: As I've said so many times, my number one priority as the Governor of the State of New York is to keep people safe. And I have the utmost respect for the Mayor and the NYPD and the extraordinary job they're doing. But after we saw a spate of really high-profile cases – the conductor getting his throat slashed, another conductor getting hit with a glass bottle and it breaking, and people being shot and pushed on the subway track – even though the statistics say that it is safer than it was before, and I commend the police department for doing that, when you have that high level of anxiety, now you're dealing with a psychological toll that deters people from wanting to go on the subways.
We're still not at full capacity. We want more riders on. And if I can offer additional assistance to the Mayor and his efforts to provide the team that I can bring, individuals who are in New York City, who are there training, these are – the National Guard are our neighbors; these are our moms and dads from our communities. They're there just as a deterrent to those who might think that they can get away with committing crime. So, this is to supplement what the NYPD is already doing during this time of heightened anxiety and concern. That's what this is all about. A supportive role very much.
Hazel Sanchez, PIX 11: Well, why not invest then in more NYPD officers instead of bringing in the National Guard?
Governor Hochul: Well, I already have them at my disposal immediately. Going through funding requests goes through a budget process, it takes a lot longer. New Yorkers are worried right now. I've had many calls and messages from people who say, thank you. Thank you for – as a business owner, making my employees feel safer coming into the subways, into their jobs. A mom told me yesterday, she puts her teenage daughter on the subway or her teenage daughter goes to the subway and she says, I don't worry about her now because I know there's another set of eyes who are watching what's going on. And that's what this is about. Not to harass people, not to make them feel uncomfortable, but I'm hearing from a lot of people they're feeling a deeper sense of security. Again, this compliments what the NYPD does. They are the primary individuals charged with protecting our subways. But if I can be helpful, as I've done all acrossthe state, I've added more police and resources to cities all over the state when they have spikes in crime. That's what my role is here, to support the Mayor and his efforts.
Dan Mannarino, PIX 11: There's been a lot of topics about the – talk about the bag checks, right? And whether or not that's going to actually deter someone because a lot of times people carry a weapon on their body. Your response was that they could, if you don't want to take a bag check, you can leave the subway, Governor. What if someone leaves the subway and goes to another? Go ahead.
Governor Hochul: Yeah, I think the point is you get on an airplane, you're getting fully searched. We're not proposing that – we're not proposing stop and search. You go to sporting events, you're often – have to check your bags. So, it's more customary, particularly in an urban area, not just New York, but all over to have your bags checked.
Now, we want to make sure people feel safe. And, yes, these are random checks, but if you're someone who's thinking of bringing a gun on the subway, you might think twice. And that's what this is about, to get the psychology of the criminals to say, I think I won't do this because I have a better chance of getting caught now. It’s a deterrent affect—
Dan Mannarino, PIX 11: So change the psychology of the criminal. My question is, if someone were to refuse a bag check and leave because they don't want it, and go to another station where there is no bag check, what's to prevent them from getting on the train?
Governor Hochul: Nothing will. That's the point. This is not heavy handed. It is simply saying it is nowhere near what stop and search was, a policy that I did not support because it was targeting individuals, particularly from communities of color. We're not ever going back. That's why this is statistically random. A certain, at a certain point, a person is pulled over and said, can we check your bags? But I'm hearing a lot of positive comments that – well, I know there's some negative comments, but this is just for a temporary basis to calm things down and let people know they're safe. And then the NYPD will continue to do their jobs and make the statistics even better.
Hazel Sanchez, PIX 11: You know, a lot of people that commit these crimes are repeat offenders, and so that brings up the issue then of bail reform and why it needs to be tweaked. What do you think about that?
Governor Hochul: I agree with Chief Kemper that we have had to make changes in the bail laws for what my predecessor and the Legislature a number of years ago did – was remove a lot of discretion that judges could use when they're determining a case. Did this person do this before? Are they a repeat offender? So, what I worked hard to do over the last sessions of the Legislature was to get those changes that are now in place. They only went into effect last May and now we need the prosecutors and the DAs and the judges to follow that..
So, the laws are there to go after repeat offenders, but I clearly understand the frustration of law enforcement who work hard, they build a case, they bring it, and all of a sudden, these individuals might be back on the streets again. And it is frustrating. It's frustrating for all of us. We're trying to change that as well. It never should have gone as far as it did. We're trying to pull it back and support our police to do their jobs, but also protect people's civil liberties. We're not here to harass people. We want people to have a comfortable, pleasant, safe experience on our subways.
Dan Mannarino, PIX 11: On the topic of bail reform Governor, we had the Suffolk County District Attorney on regarding this case of the suspects connected with the body parts out of Suffolk County, released and freed without bail despite the gruesome nature of the case, right?
So, he was talking about putting the dangerousness clause back in and saying the law needs to be looked at. Give them that power and they could have held these people. You say judges need to be better trained. So where is it? And are you at all looking at bail reform and tweaking it again?
Governor Hochul: Again, the standard changed just a few months ago — less than a year ago — and instead of the standard of dangerousness, we ask the judges now to look at a whole body of evidence.
When you think about it, dangerousness is a subjective standard. That's why it was removed from the law previously. I was trying to build back something analogous to that, something that allows the judge to look at the whole body of the individual, what they've done before, the severity of the case; was a gun involved?
So, it all does add up to, “Is this a dangerous person?” So that's in place right now. Now, this is a very unique circumstance in Suffolk County. And I know the Suffolk County Police Department is working so hard to get to the bottom of this as is the DA. So, when partial evidence comes up, I do think that there'll be opportunities for them to bring their case.
I'm not going to comment on that. They're doing their job and I respect that. But the bail laws I thought went too far in the wrong direction. I'm bringing them back, and we're going to continue to make sure that we keep people safe.
Hazel Sanchez, PIX 11: And Governor, again going back now to the President’s State of the Union address. You were there last night. You heard him speak briefly about the immigration crisis. Will you be able to meet with the President and talk about the immigration crisis here and possibly getting more funding for the State of New York?
Governor Hochul: What is so frustrating to all of us is that weeks ago, the President was able to negotiate a bipartisan deal with Senators, conservative Republicans, Democrats. The President had a package that would have given money to the State of New York to help us and help the Mayor with these extraordinary costs of housing these individuals, but also more money at the border, the northern border, our state, as well as the southern border, and to really shut down the border until we can get this under control.
That plan was there. Republicans were told by Donald Trump not to support it because it would make the President look like he had a win. He's looking at it through this political lens, which is so wrong. And as a result, we have nothing. So, I've had many conversations — meetings just a short time ago, this past week or two — with the White House, encouraging them to continue supporting this.
But if this can't happen because Republicans in Congress won't do it, and if we don't do it, then the President will be enacting executive actions, doing what he can with his powers. But the unfortunate part is, he can do that, but it doesn't come with money. Money is what the state and the City of New York need right now, as do the border States, as does the border protection agencies. And that's something the Republicans can do; they can do it this week. And they refuse to.
Dan Mannarino, PIX 11: Okay. Governor Kathy Hochul, appreciate you coming on this morning. I know you were up late last night being a guest of Adriano Espaillat at the State of the Union. Appreciate you. Come back soon, okay?
Governor Hochul: All right, will do. Thank you.