By Evan Simko-Bednarski
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — The NYPD’s controversial subway metal detector program is being deployed to subway stations within the next several days, Mayor Eric Adams said Wednesday at a joint press conference with the MTA.
“We are going to be implementing and rolling it out in a few locations,” Adams said when asked about the detection systems first announced in March.
“It should be rolled out in the next few days.”
Earlier this year, Adams showcased a device made by Evolv Technology — an AI-enabled camera and metal detector array that the firm says can find knives and guns while ignoring more innocuous items — at a March 28 presser following a spate of subway shootings.
The technology was front-and-center at the event, despite the fact that — as first reported by the Daily News — Evolv CEO Peter George had told investors just weeks earlier that subway systems were a “particular” challenge for the technology. “Subways in particular are not a place that we think is a good use-case for us,” George had said on an investor call earlier March.
Transit sources tell The News that the Evolv system has been tested dozens of times at multiple stations throughout the subway system since Adams’ initial announcement.
“They did thousands of tests — thousands — to gauge the success of it,” Adams told The News Wednesday. “We’re extremely impressed with the outcome.”
The News’ transit sources had no knowledge of any other firm’s detection systems being tested over the past three months, despite Adams’ insistence that the city wanted to foster competition between detection firms to find the best devices.
“They are looking at other companies as well, we’re not being locked into one company,” Adams said when asked if detection systems from other firms had been tested.
Spokespeople for the Mayor’s Office could not immediately provide the names of any other firms tested.
It remained unclear Wednesday how and where metal detectors would be installed in the subway system as the pilot program goes forward.
“You’re going to be advised well ahead of time — we’re not going to be surprising people,” Adams said.
“If you’re going to talk to the average passenger [and ask], ‘do you want to stop guns from coming on the system and use this technology?’ I’m sure many of them would say ‘yes,’” the mayor said.
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