NYC set to install weapons detection systems in subway stations

NEW YORK -- Mayor Eric Adams is moving ahead with the installation of a controversial weapons detection system in the subways .

The first stations could get them in a matter of days.

Weapons detection systems coming to NYC subway stations

It was only a few months ago that Adams had detectives demonstrate a weapons detection system in which a red box shows up on an iPad if a rider has a gun, a knife or other dangerous item. Now, he's ready to install them in a few select locations.

"They should be rolled out in the next few days," Adams said.

The system that will be installed was developed by a company called Evolv; its systems are also used in several city hospitals . But with technology advancing all the time, the city is still doing a global search, not ruling out the possibility that other companies will invent a better detection system.

Adams made the announcement Wednesday as officials held a press conference to tout decreases in subway crime , which is down 7.8% year-to-date, but down nearly 27% for the last four weeks compared to the same period last year.

Officials said they want the new systems to cope with random acts of violence that give the perception subways are unsafe -- things like the wild subway shooting at the Nostrand Avenue station in early March .

"People are carrying a lot of different things. It's not just guns -- it's knives, it's other things, so I mean, if they have a way to check for it, then it can't hurt," one rider said.

"Whatever would help the general public to be safe would be a good idea," another rider said.

It is unclear which stations will be the first to get the system. The MTA said it's up to City Hall, but City Hall sources tell CBS New York while the exact locations are still being discussed by the NYPD and the MTA, it's not going to be a secret. The mayor said that once the stations are chosen, they will be made public and riders will be told what the exact rules are.

Opponents call system "ineffective," say they trigger false alarms

Civil rights groups have opposed the idea because false alarms can happen, as CBS New York political reporter Marcia Kramer discovered when she got to kick the tires of a weapons detection system installed as part of a pilot at City Hall in May 2022 . The device pinged and an orange box showed up on her backpack; it turned out that part of her iPad case resembled the cylinder of a gun.

The Legal Aid Society released the following statement Wednesday:

"Shortly after the Mayor announced the gun detection system pilot earlier this year, multiple media outlets confirmed what we already know: that these invasive technologies are ineffective and frequently trigger false alarms. Even the CEO of a weapon detection-system company acknowledged that subways were not a 'good use-case' for the technology.

"New Yorkers want a safe subway system that works. These scanners will create significant inconvenience, adding congestion and delays to an already overburdened system.

"Even worse, they are an unjustified invasion of privacy, and put people's lives - particularly those of our clients, the majority of whom are people of color - at risk from the panic that an inevitable false alarm would induce.

"The Mayor has opted to move forward before even posting a final policy, in violation of the Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology Act, shirking his legal obligations under the law.

"This Administration's commitment to unreliable, unproven, and invasive policing technology comes at the expense of all New Yorkers, and does not address the root cause of public safety. We're considering all of our options should this wrongheaded plan move forward."

"They did thousands of tests, thousands, to gauge the success of it. We're extremely impressed with the outcome," Adams said.