NEW YORK (AP) — A pilot program testing AI-powered weapons scanners inside some New York City subway stations this summer did not detect any passengers with firearms — but falsely alerted more than 100 times, 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, though they declined to say whether the positive hits referred to illegal blades or tools, such as pocket knives, that are allowed in the transit system.
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat and tech enthusiast, announced plans to pilot the portable scanners, manufactured by Evolv, at a handful of subway stations this past summer in an effort to deter violence within the subway system.
The announcement drew skepticism from some riders and civil liberties groups, who argued it was neither feasible nor constitutional to scan millions of riders who enter the subway system through hundreds of entrances each day. Violent crime is rare in the system, though the announcement came on the back of two high-profile shooting incidents.
After Adams promised for months to make the results of the test public, the New York Police Department released a four-sentence statement Wednesday night noting it had performed 2,749 scans at 20 stations during the 30-day period. In total, there were 118 false positives — a rate of 4.29%.
The statement did not describe the length of time of each screening, how many officers were required to staff the devices or how many riders refused the searches. Inquiries to Evolv were not returned.
Earlier this month, a police spokesperson said they were still “evaluating the outcome of the pilot” and had not entered into any contract with Evolv.
Adams has touted the Massachusetts-based company since taking office in 2022. Before they were deployed in the subway system, the scanners were installed at a city-run hospital, and Adams said they would soon arrive in public schools.
Evolv has faced legal issues in recent years, including federal probes 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 overstating the devices’ capabilities and claiming that “Evolv does not reliably detect knives or guns.”
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 spin this data.”
“Given this failed pilot, all the other overwhelming evidence against using Evolv’s weapons detectors, and the surrounding controversies, including lawsuits and various investigations, we hope that this ill-conceived, fraught, and unwanted idea is finally shelved for good,” the statement said.
FILE - In this image provided by The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), new weapon detectors that can be deployed at subway entrances are displayed during a news conference in New York, March 28, 2024. (Marc A. Hermann/Metropolitan Transportation Authority via AP, File)
Augusta, N.J. (AP) — Family, friends and followers of Fethullah Gülen are gathering Thursday to pay respects to the influential Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar who died this week in self-exile in the United States.
Gülen, who inspired a global social movement while facing unproven allegations that he orchestrated a failed 2016 military coup against Turkey's president, died Sunday at a Pennsylvania hospital. He was in his 80s.
Under a heavy police presence, thousands of people filled a small stadium in North New Jersey for a prayer service. The service was conducted largely in Turkish, with Islamic prayers and readings from the Quran.
“We all feel like we’ve lost a father,” Usame Tunagar, a longtime associate, told mourners. Followers who served as pallbearers either studied under Gülen directly or attended a school inspired by his movement. They walked into the stadium, carrying the casket, which was draped in a green covering and inscribed in yellow with verses from the Quran.
Organizers said a brother and a sister were in attendance. Another brother is imprisoned in Turkey.
No memorial services are expected to take place in Turkey. Publicly mourning, glorifying or otherwise sympathizing with Gülen may lead to imprisonment on charges of promoting and supporting terrorism.
After the service in New Jersey, Gülen is to be buried in Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, on the grounds of the Chestnut Retreat Center, a sprawling, gated compound in the Pocono Mountains where he lived and worked for a quarter-century. A much smaller circle of family and close friends was expected at the burial.
“This is a solemn time of mourning, reflection, and prayer,” the Alliance for Shared Values said in a statement. The New York-based group promotes Gülen’s work in the U.S. “Mr. Gülen’s legacy transcends the circumstances of his life. He stands as a remarkable religious and intellectual thinker whose impact will be felt for generations.”
Gülen had long been one of Turkey’s most important scholars, with millions of followers in his native country and around the world. He had lived in the United States since 1999, when he came to seek medical treatment.
His philosophy blended Sufism — a mystical form of Islam — with staunch advocacy of democracy, education, science and interfaith dialogue. His acolytes built a loosely affiliated global network of charitable foundations, professional associations, businesses and schools in more than 100 countries, including 150 taxpayer-funded charter schools throughout the United States.
The religious leader began as an ally of Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan but became a foe. He called Erdogan an authoritarian bent on accumulating power and crushing dissent. Erdogan cast Gülen as a terrorist, accusing him of masterminding the attempted coup on July 15, 2016, when factions within the military used tanks, warplanes and helicopters to try to overthrow the government.
A total of 251 people were killed and around 2,200 others were wounded. Around 35 alleged coup plotters were killed.
Shortly after the coup attempt, the normally reclusive cleric summoned reporters to his living quarters at the Pennsylvania compound to deny any knowledge or involvement in its planning. He said he wouldn’t have returned to Turkey even if the coup had succeeded, fearing he would be “persecuted and harassed.”
“This is a tranquil and clean place and I enjoy and I live my freedom here,” Gülen said of the secluded Islamic retreat, founded by Turkish Americans, that he adopted as his home and where he would be buried eight years later. “Longing for my homeland burns in my heart, but freedom is also equally important.”
In Turkey, Gülen’s movement — sometimes known as Hizmet, Turkish for “service” — has been subjected to a broad crackdown. The government arrested tens of thousands of people for their alleged link to the coup plot, sacked more than 130,000 suspected supporters from civil service jobs and more than 23,000 from the military, and closed hundreds of businesses, schools and media organizations tied to Gülen.
The Turkish government reacted to his death this week by vowing to keep up the pressure on the Gülenist movement. Erdogan said Gülen had suffered a “dishonorable death” and likened him to a “demon in human form.” He pledged the movement would be “completely eliminated.”
Gulen was never charged with a crime in the U.S., and the U.S. government had rejected Turkey’s demands to extradite him. The cleric consistently denounced terrorism as well as the coup plotters.
A casket bearing the body of Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric living in exile in the United States who faced unproven allegations that he orchestrated a failed 2016 coup in Turkey, sits in Skylands Stadium in Augusta, N.J., where thousands gathered for funeral prayers, Thursday, Oct. 24. 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Rubinkam)
Thousands gather to morn the death of Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric living in exile in the United States who faced unproven allegations that he orchestrated a failed 2016 coup in Turkey, in Skylands Stadium in Augusta, N.J., on Thursday, Oct. 24. 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Rubinkam)
Mourners carry the casket of Fethullah Gülen, an influential Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar who died this week in self-exile in the United States, at a funeral prayer service, Thursday, Oct, 24, 2024, in Augusta, N.J. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Mourners carry the casket of Fethullah Gülen, an influential Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar who died this week in self-exile in the United States, at a funeral prayer service, Thursday, Oct, 24, 2024, in Augusta, N.J. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Mourners carry the casket of Fethullah Gülen, an influential Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar who died this week in self-exile in the United States, at a funeral prayer service, Thursday, Oct, 24, 2024, in Augusta, N.J. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Mourners carry the casket of Fethullah Gülen, an influential Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar who died this week in self-exile in the United States, at a funeral prayer service, Thursday, Oct, 24, 2024, in Augusta, N.J. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
A casket bearing the body of Fethullah Gülen, a Muslim cleric living in exile in the United States and faced unproven allegations that he orchestrated a failed 2016 coup in Turkey, sits in Skylands Stadium in Augusta, New Jersey, where thousands gathered for funeral prayers on Thursday Oct. 24. 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Rubinkam)
Mourners carry the casket of Fethullah Gülen, an influential Turkish spiritual leader and Islamic scholar who died this week in self-exile in the United States, at a funeral prayer service, Thursday, Oct, 24, 2024, in Augusta, N.J. (AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez)
Mourners grieve Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish spiritual leader who died in US
FILE - Turkish Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen speaks to members of the media at his compound in Saylorsburg, Pa. in July 2016. (AP Photo/Chris Post, File)
Mourners grieve Fethullah Gülen, a Turkish spiritual leader who died in US
