NEW YORK (AP) — A pilot program that tested AI-powered gun scanners in some New York City subway stations this summer failed to detect any passengers with firearms — but issued more than 100 false alerts, according to newly released police data.
Through nearly 3,000 searches, the scanners turned up more than 118 false positives, as well as 12 knives, police said, although they declined to say whether the positive hits were for illegal knives or tools, such as folding knives, allowed in transit. system.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat and technology enthusiast, announced plans last summer to test the portable scanners, manufactured by Evolv, at a handful of subway stations in an effort to deter violence within the subway system.
The announcement drew skepticism from some cyclists and civil liberties groups, who argued that it was neither feasible nor constitutional to scan millions of passengers who enter the subway system through hundreds of entrances every day. Violent crime is rare in the system, although the announcement came in the wake of two high-profile shooting incidents.
After months of Adams promising to make the test results public, the New York Police Department released a four-sentence statement Wednesday evening noting that 2,749 scans were performed at 20 stations during the 30-day period. In total there were 118 false positives – a rate of 4.29%.
The statement did not detail how long each screening took, how many officers were needed to staff the devices or how many riders refused the searches. Questions to Evolv were not answered.
Earlier this month, a police spokesperson said they were still “evaluating the outcome of the pilot” and had not entered into a contract with Evolv.
Adams has praised the Massachusetts-based company since taking office in 2022. Before being deployed in the subway system, the scanners were installed at a city-run hospital, and Adams said they would arrive in public schools soon.
Evolv has faced legal troubles in recent years, including federal investigations into its marketing practices led by the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Earlier this year, investors filed a class action lawsuit, accusing company executives of overestimating the devices' capabilities and claiming that “Evolv does not reliably detect knives or weapons.”
In a statement Thursday, the Legal Aid Society said the results proved the program was “objectively a failure, no matter how hard City Hall tries to distort this data.”
“Given this failed pilot, all the other overwhelming evidence against the use of Evolv's weapon detectors, and the surrounding controversies, including lawsuits and various investigations, we hope that this ill-conceived, loaded, and unwanted idea is finally shelved for good,” the statement said. said.
