After New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, sent the National Guard and state police to do bag checks in the Big Apple’s subway, the head of Chicago’s bus driver union wants the same.
The New York bag checks started Wednesday. Keith Hill, president of Amalgamated Transit Union 241, says he wants the Illinois branch of the National Guard across Chicago’s transit system.
“The police got their hands tied with everything that’s going on in the city, so any assistance is more than welcome to make passengers, workers, everybody feel safe if they use the system. It’s still the best way around the city, but the only way people are going to realize that is if they feel safe,” Mr. Hill told Chicago CBS affiliate WBBM-TV.
ATU 241 represents only the bus drivers of the Chicago Transit Authority. The train personnel employed by the system are represented by a separate branch, ATU 308.
Neither ATU 308 President Pennie McCoach, Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson nor Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker commented on Mr. Hill’s specific call for the National Guard. However, Mr. Pritzker, who like Mr. Johnson is a Democrat, has said the National Guard would not be suitable for combating crime in Chicago.
“National Guardsmen and women are trained to kill people on a battlefield. That is what they are trained to do. They are not police. They don’t know how to do crowd control,” Mr. Pritzker said in August, according to The Center Square news site.
Mr. Hill dismissed concerns that bag checks would increase travel time too much.
“What’s two minutes of having somebody’s bag checked? You’re arriving at your destination safely. … We know for a fact on the bus, people get on with weapons. They have left their weapons on the bus. While asleep, weapons fall out. So a bag check is more than welcome to me,” he said.