NYPD is to bring back stop and search at subway stops says liberal Mayor Eric Adams in a bid to halt rampant violence - more than a decade after it was deemed 'unconstitutional'

New York City Democrat Mayor Eric Adams says he is bringing back bag checks for subway riders after a 13 percent crime spike - over a decade after the city's similar 'stop-and-frisk' policy was deemed unconstitutional.

Recent criminal activity on the trains making headlines include a cellist who was bludgeoned over the head by a stranger wielding a water bottle as he performed, as well as a shooting that killed one and injured five others.

'We know people feel unsafe,' Adams, himself a former transit police officer, admitted during a press briefing. 

The mayor said he will be bringing back methods that have been previously used in times of great suspicion.  

'We are reinstituting bag checks. There are several things we are reinstituting in the system,' Adams added, with the NYPD reportedly searching bags for weapons such as knives, box cutters, clubs and guns. 

New York City Mayor Eric Adams says he will add more police presence in subway stations and return bag checks and checking backpacks after a 13 percent crime spike

There will be 94 bag screening teams sent to 136 stations each week, though the exact locations will be determined. The city is also reviewing technology to detect metal objects entering the transit system. 

Screening teams will be able to check bags of any passenger for weapons under the policy that has long been dormant. 

Those subway back-check protocols were originally brought to the MTA after the London bombings in 2005. 

However, it may bring back memories of the city's 'stop-and-frisk' policy, which was ended in 2014 after being deemed 'unconstitutional.' 

That year, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would no longer fight a lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and ended the policy. The practice included cops stopping and searching civilians on the street for weapons.

De Blasio's announcement came at a press conference in Brooklyn's Brownsville neighborhood, where police stops were especially frequent. Lawyers for the plaintiffs who sued the city over stop-and-frisk joined city officials at the event. 

Addressing the Christian Cultural Center, a historically black church in Brooklyn in 2019, Bloomberg admitted: 'I was wrong.'

Former mayor Michael Bloomberg said the practice often led to the disproportionate detaining of blacks and Latinos, adding that he 'can't change history'. 

But he said that if anyone was wrongly stopped by police: 'I apologize', adding: 'Our focus was on saving lives. But the fact is: Far too many innocent people were being stopped while we tried to do that. 

The city asked the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in New York to send the case back to a federal judge 'so that the parties may explore a resolution,' according to a court filing.

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced he would no longer fight a lawsuit brought by the Center for Constitutional Rights and ended the policy of 'stop-and-frisk' in 2014 

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg reversed his longstanding support of the controversial 'stop and frisk' police strategy ahead of his failed presidential run

Adams, a Democrat, is partnering with New York Governor and fellow liberal Kathy Hochul, who says she's sending in state authorities to help deal with the problem after the pair met with MTA officials last week, according to NBC New York. 

'Governor Hochul has made historic commitments to make our subways safer, from security cameras to mental health personnel, and tomorrow she will unveil new legislation to protect riders, new state personnel to assist NYPD with bag checks, and other new measures to keep New Yorkers safe,' a spokesperson for Adams said.

Hochul plans to reveal her own plans to protect subway riders on Wednesday, which should increase funding for police overtime, as well as mental health outreach. 

She's also planning to introduce legislation to add state personnel to help the NYPD with bag checks. 

With crime having gone up double digits compared with this point in 2023 and civilians and employees being attacked, the Transit Workers Union has slammed their bosses at the MTA for failing to protect hem.

'We stand ready to assist Local 100 as they confront this plague of violence - and transit executives who are either inept or indifferent to the harm inflicted on their own employees day and night,' said TWU President John Samuelsen. 

'On workplace safety, the MTA has been an abysmal failure. Assaults against transit workers in the subway increased nearly 60 percent last year.' 

'We know people feel unsafe,' Adams, himself a former transit police officer, admitted

The mayor said that he will be bringing back methods like bag checks that have been previously used in times of great suspicion

Adams, a Democrat, is partnering with New York Governor and fellow liberal Kathy Hochul, who says she's sending in state authorities to help deal with the problem after the pair met with MTA officials last week

Subway crime has been on the rise of late, with 2023 showing the most subway assaults since 1996. There have been three homicides on the rails to start the year, compared to none at this point last year. 

NYPD Chief of Transit has made his own efforts to confront the problem, with more than 1,000 cops infused to the transit system and credits the move with a 17 percent crime reduction in February.

Riders and even subway performers are attempting to make their own voices heard, led by a recent victim of subway crime.  

Iain Forrest, 29, a medical student and musician, was playing his electric cello at the 34th Street Herald Square Station on the evening of February 13. 

In a shocking moment caught on video, an unidentified woman strode over, picked up the metal water bottle he'd set on the ground and smashed it over his head. The bottle clattered to the ground as Forrest clutched his head in pain. 

Forrest announced on Instagram earlier Sunday that he's formed a coalition with his fellow musicians called the Subway Performers Advocacy Group but says that for the time being, he will no longer entertain underground. 

The cellist who was bludgeoned over the head by a stranger wielding a water bottle as he performed in the New York City subway last week says he's done performing on platforms

'[I]t does kind of break my heart that this is something that has to stop indefinitely, barring some sort of systemic change with protection for performances in the subway,' he said. 

The group's stated goal is to ask the MTA and NYPD to track statistics of crimes against subway musicians so that police resources can be 'smartly allocated to where they are needed to prevent attacks.'

Forrest, who said that his attacker who got away still hasn't been caught, told the New York Daily News he didn't understand what exactly had happened to him until the attacker literally hit him.

'I couldn't quite get my bearings and it was only when I saw my metal water bottle rolling around on the ground and I saw the crowd's face - in awe, disbelief and shock - that I realized, I think someone just smashed the back of my head with my metal water bottle,' he said.