Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
Counterterrorism teams like these city detectives armed with M-4 rifles will patrol the subways.
What a weird camera angle?
Posted on 02/02/2008 1:49:30 AM PST by neverdem
In the first counterterrorism strategy of its kind in the nation, roving teams of New York City police officers armed with automatic rifles and accompanied by bomb-sniffing dogs will patrol the city’s subway system daily, beginning next month, officials said on Friday.
Under a tactical plan called Operation Torch, the officers will board trains and patrol platforms, focusing on sites like Pennsylvania Station, Herald Square, Columbus Circle, Rockefeller Center and Times Square in Manhattan, and Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
Officials said the operation would begin in March.
Financing for the program will be funneled to the Police Department and will come from a pool of up to $30 million taken from $153.2 million in new federal transit grants to the state.
Michael Chertoff, the secretary of homeland security, and Gov. Eliot Spitzer announced the grants at a news conference on Friday at Grand Central Terminal, where Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly outlined his plans to add a layer of security to the city’s 24-hour transit system.
Mr. Kelly’s plan to heighten security and monitor a subway system that carries nearly five million people a day along 656 miles of tracks reflects the city’s continuing concerns about a possible attack.
After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, police patrols increased in the subways, particularly at the entrances to the 16 underwater tunnels. As terrorists have hit rail systems around the world, the police in New York have reacted with strategies tailored to thwart similar attacks...
--snip--
Officers with high-powered rifles have patrolled sensitive sites above ground in New York, like the Empire State Building, and have guarded subway entrances after attacks in other cities, but have never made daily patrols...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times
Counterterrorism teams like these city detectives armed with M-4 rifles will patrol the subways.
What a weird camera angle?
But King Bloomie hates guns! This can’t be! /S
Yes, it is a weird camera angle.
As for putting armed officers in subways — good, very good.
They are supposed to do what all the scary looking gun toting goons posted on the street corners of dictatorships worldwide ... intimidate people. Now we have our own goons. It always comes down to this.
They’re not goons. They’re cops.
That is one good idea!
Generally speaking, good people have nothing fear from police officers.
I am not intimidated.
Generally speaking.
That’s pretty general considering we see a damn near daily report on police abuse of citizens, not to mention their collaboration in various forms of unconstitutional behavior, using the asset forfeiture abomination to enrich their departments, Serpico, the various scandals in the NYPD in the 70s and the LAPD in the 90s, the utter corruption that rotted away at the New Orleans PD, racist ATF gatherings with “nigger hunting licenses” obtained at said events, burning children alive after a murderous raid, murdering people at Ruby Ridge, the Elian Gonzales disaster, Amadou Diallo, Abner Louima, Rodney King, the various Brett Darrow run-ins with local police stating they will manufacture evidence against him on tape, the teacher beaten by feds in New Orleans, the Iraq war veteran shot while complying with officers directions, the deaths of who knows how many beloved pets, innocent human beings and even the guilty who did not deserve a summary death sentence.
So after all those exceptions, I’d say your definition of ‘general’ is probably a bit less exacting than mine.
Great, you go back 30 years to find scandal.
For the record, there are more than 600,000 cops in the U.S.
Hmmm...”near daily report...”
Well, I don’t see those reports.
I guess if one was reading those way-out-there leftist sites; maybe one would read a ‘near daily report.”
A good morning to you.
Golly, don’t the police ever do anything good?
I saw one steal an apple in a movie once.
30 years?
You’re head is so stuck up NYC’s hindquarters, you didn’t see that the vast majority of what I wrote was not 30 years ago or even to do with your city.
My point is simple. It is a little disturbing on THIS site for people to be comfortable with fully-armored, military-girded ‘troops’ patrolling or being stationed on the streets. Police can be a presence but they should be taking the same risks as the rest of us, esp since WE are the primary targets, not the police.
And more important, I’m just putting the lie to the idea that ‘good people’ have nothing to fear from the cops. Such a line is obviously spoken by someone who has not had any experiences with the police, DWB, or had any relatives (black or white) who may have had negative experiences with the police.
Somehow, the faces in the photo don’t inspire confidence in me. I would rather take care of myself, thank you!
Leftist site? LOL
You don’t read FreeRepublic much do you? Everything I named is pretty common knowledge, not only on this site but on most conservative and libertarian sites or anyone with an interest in such things.
Is this a sudden decision, or one that was made years ago, and the ‘gubmint’ is just getting around to it!
Damn sure look Goony!
These guys are an elite unit — a small percentage of the 50,000 or so NYC cops. And, since NYC is still a target, I fully support them.
I’ve talked to them on and off duty. They’re cops. Some have military training, but not all.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.