NEW YORK — The Department of Investigation is probing Mayor Adams’ administration over its controversial effort to install weapons scanners in the MTA subway system and other locations, the Daily News has learned.

The DOI probe into City Hall’s acquisition of weapons detectors from Massachusetts-based Evolv Technologies — which comes as Eric Adams is facing federal corruption charges in a separate investigation — has been ongoing since at least August, according to a source with knowledge of the inquiry.

Among other matters, the investigation is scrutinizing how the administration vetted Evolv before allowing it to install its technology at various locations, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive matter.

A DOI spokeswoman declined to comment when asked about the investigation.

Evolv scanners are in widespread used nationally for security screening purposes, but questions have emerged about its effectiveness underground in places like subway stations.

Adams first started touting the weapon detectors in 2022, shortly after taking office. That February, Evolv scanners were installed at the city-run Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx, part of a pilot program with the city.

In announcing that trial, Adams said he was already looking to expand it.

“We’re going to place it in schools so we can do a better job of identifying weapons,” he said — comments Evolv put on its Twitter account.

In May 2022, an Evolv scanner popped up briefly at City Hall’s own security checkpoints.

Then, this summer, Adams’ administration initiated a pilot to install the scanners in MTA subway stations, where they were supposed to screen straphangers before they entered the system, an initiative that drew intense pushback from civil rights advocates and transit advocates.

“The choice to employ Evolv’s unreliable scanners was problematic from the start, but it is even more concerning, based on reporting, that the process which led to its use is now also under scrutiny,” Diane Akerman, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s digital forensics unit, said Friday in response to The News’ reporting.

Adams administration officials have said each Evolv pilot — including the most recent run in the subway system — has been free of charge, an assertion backed up by city records showing a lack of payments to the firm.

Despite repeated assurances from Adams and NYPD brass that the city is open to all bidders when it comes to testing out weapons-catching tech, no other firms — including those who have met directly with Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks — have received the same front-and-center treatment as Evolv.

A source directly familiar with the matter told The News this week that Dominick D’Orazio, a retired NYPD deputy inspector who works as Evolv’s sales manager in New York, was in close touch with Banks early on in Adams’ administration about potential city contracts for Evolv.

While in the NYPD, D’Orazio served as executive officer of a narcotics squad in Brooklyn South at the same time as Banks was deputy chief of patrol for Brooklyn South, city records show.

Daily schedules for Banks, obtained by The News through the Freedom of Information Law, show he met with Evolv officials at least four times in 2022.

An exchange of emails between Banks’ then-chief of staff, Justin Meyers, and Evolv founder Anil Chitkara — obtained by The News — shows D’Orazio was one of five company reps who met with Banks and his staff on Feb. 7, 2022 at the deputy mayor’s Manhattan office, the first of the four meetings.

In that meeting, Evolv leadership pitched Banks on several settings where Evolv’s scanners could be used, including schools, hospitals and NYCHA projects, according to a presentation Chitkara included in one email.

Evolv had also set up a demonstration of its technology the next day, Feb. 8, 2022, for the NYPD’s school safety division.

By Feb. 17, Banks was visiting Jacobi with Evolv. By Feb. 23, Adams was announcing plans — ultimately abandoned — to put the scanners in schools.

Despite the emails confirming he met with D’Orazio in February 2022 about Evolv matters, Banks told WIRED Magazine this past May he had never interacted with him in his capacity as a sales manager at the firm.

Neither Banks nor D’Orazio returned calls seeking comment this week.

The DOI probe into Evolv comes amid a swirling set of federal corruption investigations into Adams’ administration that sources say are looking into whether city officials engaged in schemes involving influence peddling and kickbacks on city contracts.

Adams is the only city official who’s currently facing criminal accusations, with feds indicting him last week on charges that he solicited bribes from Turkish government operatives.

Banks, who had his devices confiscated and his home raided last month in connection with the federal probes, has not been accused of any wrongdoing, and neither has Evolv.

Banks’ youngest brother, Terence Banks, a government relations consultant, was also raided by the feds last month in connection with the federal probes. Feds are looking at whether the younger Banks steered city business to his clients via his brothers, according to sources.

Tim Sini, a lawyer for Terence Banks, told The News his client has never represented Evolv. Terence Banks hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing.

Evolv became an especially important plank in Adams’ law enforcement agenda last year, when he held a press conference at the Fulton St. subway station, calling for weapons detection scanners throughout the system.

“This is a Sputnik moment,” Adams said at the time, standing next to an Evolv-made, NYPD-branded scanner. “When President Kennedy said we were going to put a man on the moon, everybody responded. Today we said we’re going to bring technology to identify guns and other dangerous weapons and our private industry will respond.”

The press conference was held after Peter George, Evolv’s CEO, told investors in March that “subways in particular are not a place that we think is a good use-case [for the technology].”

Months later, Adams pressed on, confirming that the NYPD had run a slew of tests on the tech, which Evolv claims can quickly find knives or guns while ignoring more innocuous devices like laptops, phones and tablets.

“We’re extremely impressed with the outcome,” he said in July.

The scanners were rolled out for a 30-day trial later that month at the Fulton St. station. Despite repeated requests, neither the NYPD nor Adams’ office has provided the results of the trial-run, and how many weapons, if any, were found by the scanners.

A source with knowledge of the testing said the scanners were having issues in the subway environment, and that the last round of testing had focused on six particular subway stations that appeared to pose a problem for the technology.

But on Aug. 27, Adams said the results of the testing had been “very impressive.”

“I know the commissioner is going to release the actual data and then make [a] determination,” he added, referring to NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban, who resigned Sept. 12 after getting his devices seized as part of the federal corruption probes.

Asked again for that data Thursday, more than a month after the testing wrapped, an NYPD spokesperson declined to provide it.

Evolv hasn’t been without its own legal troubles.

The company has been the subject of a Federal Trade Commission probe looking into whether it has been honest with investors and customers about what their detection tech is capable of. The firm also is the subject of a “non-public, fact-finding inquiry” by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Evolv execs have said they are cooperating with both sets of regulators.

A group of investors also filed a class action suit against Evolv in May, alleging the company has overstated the ability of its detectors to find knives and guns. The case is pending, and Evolv is in the process of responding to the allegations, court records show.

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