27/07/2024
27/07/2024

NEW YORK, July 27, (AP): New York City is turning to AI-powered scanners in a new bid to keep guns out of its subway system, but the pilot program launched Friday is already being met with skepticism from riders and the threat of a lawsuit from civil liberties advocates who say the searches are unconstitutional.
The Evolv scanner - a sleek-looking weapons detector using artificial intelligence to search riders for guns and knives - was on display at a lower Manhattan subway station where Mayor Eric Adams announced the 30-day trial.
"This is good technology,” Adams said at Fulton Center near the World Trade Center.
"Would I rather that we don't have to be scanned? Yes," he added. "But if you would speak to the average subway rider, they would state that they don’t want guns on their subway system, and if it means using scanners, then bring the scanners on.”
Adams, a self-described "tech geek,” has stressed that the scanners are still in the experimental phase. The machines, already in use at baseball stadiums and other venues, will be deployed to a small number of stations and only a fraction of riders will be asked to step through them. The city has not entered into a contract with Evolv, and Adams said other companies were welcomed to pitch their own gun-detection innovations.
The scanners, about 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall, feature the logo of the city's police department and a multicolor light display. When a weapon is detected, an alert is sent to a tablet monitored by a pair of NYPD officers. The system is not supposed to alert everyday items, such as phones and laptops - though a reporter's iPad case set it off Friday.
The scanners drew immediate protest from civil liberties advocates. The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society said they would sue the city if the technology is rolled out widely, alleging the searches violated the constitutional rights of riders.
"City officials have admitted that these scanners are primarily to combat some riders’ ‘perceptions’ that they are unsafe on the subway - this is not a justifiable basis to violate the Constitution,” said NYCLU attorney Daniel Lambright.
The scanners also spurred concerns from riders who said it isn't practical or plausible to subject millions of commuters to security screenings.
"It’s not going to work," said Dre Thomas, 25, shaking his head at the device. "It’d have to be at every point in the subway. I don’t see how that’s possible. It seems to me like another way to waste taxpayer money.”