'Ring of Steel' to protect midtown from terrorists

April 1, 7:13 AMNY Tech Industry ExaminerJeff Smith

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the NY Tech Industry Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Credit: New York Daily News

Every major daily in the boroughs is reporting on a plan suggested yesterday by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly to institute a security zone around Midtown Manhattan, similar to the one near Ground Zero.

Mr. Kelly was testifying in front of the City Council Public Safety Committee, urging them to expand anti-terror technology like license plate scanners, surveillance video cameras and radiation detectors. "We want to take that model and replicate it, to the extent that we can, to midtown Manhattan," Commissioner Kelly said.

The plan is being modeled on London's security template, Newsday reports. Last November NYPD opened a coordination center for their efforts in lower Manhattan, where cops monitor feeds from 300 cameras and 30 mobile license plate readers on a 24-hour cycle. “It will give us a comprehensive and real-time view of Midtown, offering us the best possible coverage while avoiding redundancies.”

Despite the record lows in crime, Commissioner Kelly told the committee, more was needed to compensate for a dwindling number of feet on the ground. Mr. Kelly said his department is expected to dip to around 35,500 by the end of June, and even lower by the end of the year.

Mr. Kelly said the department was looking to receive federal stimulus dollars for the technology project in Midtown that could also lead to about 250 to 400 new police officers, according to NY1. The department's budget is expected to fall about $150 million during the next fiscal year, so federal dollars are necessary to the initiative. But not everyone is convinced the surveillance plan is a good allocation of taxpayer money.

The New York Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday that more light needed to be shined on the NYPD's information gathering activity. “The N.Y.P.D. must not spend vast amounts of public money blanketing downtown and Midtown Manhattan in surveillance cameras without any public discussion of its plans and without clear privacy protections,” said Donna Lieberman, the group’s executive director.

"Even with the federal stimulus money, we will not have anywhere near the amount of police officers we need to continue the war on crime," said Committee chairman Peter Vallone Jr.