New Operation to Put Heavily Armed Officers in Subways

NY Times ^ | February 2, 2008 | AL BAKER

[cowdog77]

Source???

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Reminds me of Heathrow, 1991. They had troops with semiautomatic weapons in flack jackets patrolling the terminals. Of course, the IRA had motared the place once.

I suppose Bernie Goetz is deriving some small measure of vindication.

[Wonder Warthog]

"As for putting armed officers in subways — good, very good."

Undercover officers, maybe---but not these guys. Geez--do they think terrorists don't have eyes, and won't go elsewhere to "do their nasty".

[Hardastarboard]

I'm familiar with pretty much all of those incidents you mention. I would point out a couple of things. Several of those were perpetrated by agents of the Federal government under the Clinton I administration (a foreshadowing of what will happen under Clinton II). Rodney King brought it on himself. NO sympathy for him.

Ultimately, I'm just puzzled by this development. How is having the cops in the subways with full auto M4's going to stop a terrorist? They operate by stealth anyway. It's not like the cops have a special radar that points out the terrorists like in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers". I guess it fits in overall with liberal philosophy that "assault weapons" are so deadly that they'll kill even the worst terrorist, or some muddle headed thinking like that.

[iopscusa]

Good question, How is having the cops in the subways with full auto M4’s going to stop a terrorist?
Is this how the Israelis/Brits, Germans, French defend public transportation?

[waud]

I agree. 9/11 was over 6 years ago (and 6 homeland security budgets) and they’re just now coming up with this?

I wonder if they received a “more credible than usual” threat? Perhaps something like that Japan subway gassing a few years ago.

I’d be on super duper special alert if I lived in NYC.

[FR Class of 1998]

I remember the days when the image of civilian police with military gear in our streets would have caused a riot around here.

I don’t think anyone can really come up with a legitimate reason to arm cops with these weapons. If there is a real military threat, the Army should be defending against it, not civilians. And if there is no such threat... the question remains, to whom is this show of force directed?

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

The POSSIBILITY of lightly-armed CITIZENS would accomplish the stated objective although not the real objectives.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

If you only knew how informed Cindy is, you’d bite your tongue. Yes the Long March has corrupted many but many stand right and true.

CINDY and Honest Law Enforcement Officer bump!

[seemoAR]

It does desensitize the Sheepie to armed guards on their streets. Maybe that is the reason.

[Atlas Sneezed]

They are the standing army our Founders feared.

[Dilbert56]

A week before last Tuesday I was getting on the uptown W/R train at Whitehall Street. As I went down the stairs I passed two uniformed police officers. On the escalator I passed two more. On the platform there were pairs of officers every third or fourth girder. Something was up. The next night, just a couple of officers total.

Perhaps NYPD would rather deter the criminals with shows of force rather than trying to catch them afterward. It supposedly worked when Al Qaida was trying to sabotage the Brooklyn Bridge. NYPD flooded the zone and they gave up.

[angcat]

goons

What a disgusting comment.

[mathurine]

If they are high powered enough to ding some vermin, that would be a good start.

[GAB-1955]

I’ve seen police with automatic weapons on the D.C. Metro system, as well as bomb-sniffing dogs at Union Station. No big deal. It might discourage Juwann Jihadi from martyrdom on the MARC line.

I suppose the fear is that the dogs will sniff out dope as well, and the casual toker will be put up against the wall and shot. I don’t think the transit police care about the average joint user, but it might also discourage using the subway as a distribution center for drugs. Boo. Hoo.

[Fido969]

This is part of a larger strategy to have in place a heavily armed police force when the government hands down the order for all citizens to turn in their guns.

And they know who you are, too. They’ve been reading Free Republic.

[El Gato]

New Operation to Put Heavily Armed Officers in Subways

They are going to set up Ma Dueces in the subway stations, and equip the officers patroling in the tunnels with LAWs? No .22 caliber rifle makes someone "heavily armed".

Not sure I care for the idea of NYPD officers having automatic weapons (or even semiautomatic rifles) in a crowded subway. They have historically had problems with "target ID", and restraint.

Detectives using M4s as investigative tools? Scary.

[El Gato]

As for putting armed officers in subways — good, very good.

Armed citizens would be better. Cops can't be everywhere, citizens are everywhere. (Hmm, New York City.. maybe a bad assumption about the *citizens*?).

[An Old Man]

It's still a free country, isn't it? If you want to call a goon a cop go right ahead.

Semper Fi
An Old Man

[Balding_Eagle]

And you are 100% correct when you said, “There are good and bad in every single group you could put together in our world.”

OK, let's take that at face value.

How many of them are as heavily armed as the group shown in the article?