Is TSA-Like Security Coming To NYC Bus Stations?

NEW YORK CITY — A TSA-esque system of random searches and scanners could be headed to New York City's bus and train stations if Mayor Eric Adams has his way.

Adams on Friday highlighted overlooked aspects of his divisive "Blueprint To End Gun Violence" that call for sweeping "spot checks" at entry points into the city.

Greyhound buses heading into the Port Authority bus terminal are a "favorite" way to transport guns into the five boroughs, he told WNYC's Brian Lehrer.

Spot checks like those used to detect bombs at airports can be used for buses and trains, he said.

“If we're doing that for a bomb, then we should be doing it for bullets and guns,” he said. "And it's just a periodic check. We're not going to profile people, but it just sends a message that we're just not an open door to those southern states that are transporting guns to the city.

"And it's done already at our airports. It's done already in the subway stations, and when I go abroad countries do that already to keep their citizenry safe and there's no reason we are not doing it.”

Adams' 15-page plan is largely mum on what shape those checks could take and how they won't infringe on civil liberties.

But it casts them as an important way to prevent firearms from reaching New York City — a sprawling metropolis where gun violence is surging and NYPD officers removed 6,000 weapons from the streets last year, despite there being no gun manufacturers in the city's borders.

The NYPD will work with state law enforcement to "implement spot checks at entry points like Port Authority and other bus and train stations," the blueprint states.

Another clue to how such a system will work was discussed by Adams, and outlined in broad strokes within the blueprint: technology.

"The NYPD will explore the responsible use of new technologies and software to identify dangerous individuals and those carrying weapons," the blueprint states. "This technology will not be the sole means to make arrests, but as another tool as part of llarger case-building efforts."

Adams, when pressed by Lehrer, said his team is reviewing and meeting with companies that make unspecified "nondescript" technologies. He said those technologies can help determine whether people carry guns "based on mass and other specifics."

Those technologies will be vetted to make sure they don't infringe civil liberties, he said.

“No one is going to violate civil rights,” he said.

“We do need to upgrade our use of technology to help detect guns and make sure that they are not on our subway system and other places where young people and families are located,” he said