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[goodcow]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/02/n...800&partner=digg&exprod=digg&pagewanted=print

February 2, 2008
New Operation to Put Heavily Armed Officers in Subways
By AL BAKER

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.

For instance, after the bombings of three trains and a bus in London on July 7, 2005, police officials in New York took steps to protect the city’s subways, including random inspections of train riders’ backpacks and packages, a program that continues today.

“New York remains at the top of the terrorist target list, and mass transit remains a concern because it has been targeted many times around the world,” Mr. Kelly said in a statement released by his chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne. “There have been several thwarted plots against New York’s subway system as well.”

Each team in the operation will comprise a bomb-sniffing dog and six officers: a dog handler and a sergeant and four officers from the Emergency Service Unit who will be outfitted in heavy, bullet-resistant vests and Kevlar helmets and will carry automatic weapons, either an M-4 rifle or an MP5 submachine gun.

The officers will work in shifts of 12 hours to provide as much coverage of the subway system as possible, Mr. Browne said.

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. .

Michael A. L. Balboni, the state’s deputy secretary for public safety, said that since May, National Guardsmen armed with automatic rifles have patrolled the platforms of the PATH train system in New York and in New Jersey.

Mr. Balboni said that having heavily armed city officers routinely patrol the subways was an important first step.

But more broadly, he said, linking security plans for the disparate rail systems in the metropolitan region was “key in securing additional funding from the Department of Homeland Security.” He said that Mr. Chertoff praised the state for collaborating across geographic regions, since transit systems in New Jersey and Connecticut would also be affected.

“Going forward, the New York metropolitan transit system is getting a $50 million increase over last year’s funding for transit security,” Mr. Balboni said. “What we did was pull together eight agencies, three states and a multitude of police agencies to come up with regional funding priorities.”

 

[Instigator]

Another reason to avoid New York (the city, that is, the state itself is actually not half bad).

 

[way more]

This is the first smart thing I've heard done in the name of National Security.

 

[quaere]

I'm good with the bomb sniffing dogs. But how are assault rifles going to stop a terrorist attack in the subway?

 

[ShOcKwAvE]

Another reason to avoid New York (the city, that is, the state itself is actually not half bad).

Avoid one of the world's greatest cities? What is wrong with you?

 

[super funk]

Another reason to avoid New York (the city, that is, the state itself is actually not half bad).

I really like youre attitude, because that means that people like you wont be coming here.

I'm good with the bomb sniffing dogs. But how are assault rifles going to stop a terrorist attack in the subway?

The same way video cameras do. Not at all.

 

[Instigator]

Avoid one of the world's greatest cities? What is wrong with you?

I don't know, I guess I was turned off before by the sight of heavily armed officers in third world dumps. Whether NYC does this just for show or for genuine security concerns, I'd rather be in a friendlier place either way.

 

[Bboy AJ]

This is the first smart thing I've heard done in the name of National Security.

How is that? Are you even from NYC? This is stupid.

 

[Gantz]

I think this is good. Maybe this will help cut down on subway crime as well.

 

[Battersea Power Station]

I think this is good. Maybe this will help cut down on subway crime as well.

That's true. It's almost like when the best neighborhoods are around police precincts.

 

[Dr.Guru of Peru]

Another reason to avoid New York (the city, that is, the state itself is actually not half bad).

So where are the nice parts of New York outside of NYC? Buffalo? Rochester? Albany?

Anyways, this is dumb. It'll just delay things even more, and it won't do shit to stop a terrorist attack.

 

[Hitokage]

Automatic weapons fire in a crowded subway station...

...yeah, that'll turn out well.

 

[Instigator]

So where are the nice parts of New York outside of NYC? Buffalo? Rochester? Albany?

Anyways, this is dumb. It'll just delay things even more, and it won't do shit to stop a terrorist attack.

NY state is still great for fishing and skiing!

 

[captainbiotch]

Bomb sniffing dogs are a good thing, especially while we are arousing anti-American sentiment across the world so effectively by being meddlesome assholes.

The full out raid-armor/assault rifle packing soldiers is overkill though. Seems it would be more effective at making everyone that sees them scared.

 

[Eric P]

guys you're all over reacting

the nypd have a long history of level headed involvement with the community and citizens of new york city.

i'm certain they'll be on their best behaviour

 

[jordan0386]

Hmmm, must've been tipped off to something.

Might ride to Manhattan just to see 'em.

 

[biggkidd32]

Ugh.

I think the dogs are fine. But, like Hitokage said, automatic weapons in crowded subway is not a good idea.

 

[MickeyKnox]

I'm always against these bullshit specious attempts at deterring terrorism in the NYC subway system since it's always so fucking half-assed that all it does is waste money.

It was/is the same with the "random" bag searches.

 

[Nicodimas]

This is not a bad thing. A officer is responsible for where every round ends up.

 

[APF]

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.

Oh gee fancy that.

 

[MickeyKnox]

Oh gee fancy that.

Atlantic is a pretty big hub, but yeah, itchy trigger fingered cops with automatic weapons in a fairly sketchy part of Brooklyn is going to work out so well.

 

[knitoe]

All for show. If anyone wants to take a bomb onto a train, easy as hell. Just start out on a small station, ride into bigger Manhattan stations, and then, boom. I am really surprise the NYC train system hasn't been attack by one yet. It's easy and would cause major disruption throughout the US and beyond.

To really protect against these attacks, it's going to have to be similar to passing airport check point, but the cost money and time would probably destroy the transit system.

 

[Eric P]

well it's really easy to cause small scale terrorist attacks just to let people know you're out there and can strike at any time

it makes me wonder just how effective these people terrorizing us are if i can think of ways to shut down washington dc with nothing more than $20 and a few hours

 

[yankeeforever2]

hell this will probably help crime alittle, thats about it.

 

[westical]

And here I was thinking they meant the sandwich stores.

 

[The Faceless Master]

Atlantic is a pretty big hub, but yeah, itchy trigger fingered cops with automatic weapons in a fairly sketchy part of Brooklyn is going to work out so well.

atlantic avenue is sketchy?

:lol :lol :lol

ANYWAY

if this is as halfassed as their 'random bag searches' it won't be of any use.

this is almost as lame as the cops parked at both sides of the brooklyn bridge sleeping in their cars.

what, terrorists would NEVER hit a different bridge, right? right?

 

[MickeyKnox]

atlantic avenue is sketchy?

:lol :lol :lol

ANYWAY

if this is as halfassed as their 'random bag searches' it won't be of any use.

this is almost as lame as the cops parked at both sides of the brooklyn bridge sleeping in their cars.

what, terrorists would NEVER hit a different bridge, right? right?

Down by Flatbush? I'd say so, it's not East New York or anything but still.

 

[chaostrophy]

Is there a precedent for this anywhere else in the world? Like has London started doing something like this after the 7/7 attack? To me this program sounds like something you'd see in Pyongyang.

 

[Eric P]

Is there a precedent for this anywhere else in the world? Like has London started doing something like this after the 7/7 attack? To me this program sounds like something you'd see in Pyongyang.

back in hong kong in 05, i was rather impressed with the guards with fragmentation grenades and mp5s in the airport in 20 feet intervals

 

[Joe211]

It's a good idea in France French military patrol with FAMAS

 

[SnakeXs]

Fucking morons. They get a little bit of money and instead of investing in something longer term and technological, they put it towards useless man power.

As if the "bag screenings" haven't annoyed enough.

 

[IronicallyTwisted]

How many terrorist attacks have the NYC subways encountered?

 

[The Faceless Master]

Down by Flatbush? I'd say so, it's not East New York or anything but still.

dude it's right in the middle of downtown brooklyn, at the very *start* of flatbush.

columbus circle is more dangerous!

there's nothing sketchy about the atlantic avenue terminal.

 

[Osorio]

The dogs better not detect drugs too.

 

[nitewulf]

Down by Flatbush? I'd say so, it's not East New York or anything but still.

nah, that area is gentrified like hell now. it always was an arts and culture hub actually, what with BAM, the botanical gardens etc.

your definition of sketchy = black ppl.

 

[APF]

nah, that area is gentrified like hell now. it always was an arts and culture hub actually, what with BAM, the botanical gardens etc.

your definition of sketchy = black ppl.

What other groups have a conspicuous presence on Atlantic?

 

[evanylee]

No.

 

[bggrthnjsus]

i read an article a few years back that said the nypd actually really stepped up security after 9/11, moreso than even national security forces, as if to say 'fuck you guys we can do this better ourselves', and actually i think i remember that article said that people seemed much happier about that than federal government providing security.