NYC to deploy portable gun scanners to try to deter violent crime on subway system

New York City will deploy portable gun scanners in its subway system, officials' latest effort to try to deter violent crime that has resulted in deaths and shaken riders. 

The pilot program was introduced Thursday by Mayor Eric Adams, about a week after one passenger wrested a gun from another and fatally shot him, in what police say was an act of self defense. 

Adams says the scanners will be introduced in certain stations after a legally mandated 90-day waiting period, according to the Associated Press. 

“Keeping New Yorkers safe on the subway and maintaining confidence in the system is key to ensuring that New York remains the safest big city in America,” said Adams, who held a press conference Thursday at an subway station to announce several new initiatives. 

The Democrat mayor also announced a plan to send additional outreach workers into subway stations to try to get people with mental health issues who are living in the system into treatment.

National Guardsmen and additional New York City Police Department officers recently have been place in subway stations to try to deter the violence, which has includes passenger being push onto tracks, and such misdemeanor crimes as passengers routinely hooping over turnstiles to avoid paying fares.