(VitalNews.org) – New York City is leaning on artificial intelligence for scanners in order to help gun control on public transportation. The program has made its appearance, and there is already a lot of skepticism from riders and a threat of a lawsuit from advocates saying the searches are unconstitutional.
The Evlov scanner is a sleek weapons detector that uses artificial intelligence to search riders for guns and knives. It was put in a Manhattan subway system by Eric Adams as a test to see how it would perform. “This is good technology,” Adams said.
He continued, “Would I rather that we don’t have to be scanned? Yes. 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 has said multiple times that these scanners are in the experimental phase but that they are being used in baseball stadiums, subway systems, and venues. The city doesn’t have an official contract with Evolv yet, and Adams has said that he’s open to seeing other gun control methods from other companies as well.
The scanners, which feature a logo of the city’s police department, are about six feet tall, and send an alert to a tablet that’s monitored by NYPD officers when it detects a weapon.
The New York Civil Liberties Union and the Legal Aid Society both threatened legal action as they stated that these searches were unconstitutional. NYCLU attorney Daniel Lambright said, “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.”
Some people pushed and said that although they supported the scanner, they didn’t feel it was necessary for every single entry point. On the other hand, some felt that this was necessary to combat the potential of violence and crime in subway systems.
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