Central New York An Armed Fortress for Republican Convention
New York authorities are turning central Manhattan into an armed security fortress for the four-day Republican National Convention that opens next Monday to nominate President George W. Bush (news - web sites) for a second four-year term.
"The city and the state as well as many agencies and thousands of individuals have come together in partnership to provide an unprecedented, comprehensive level of security to protect this great city and the convention," said US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
Ridge's declaration of both the Republican convention, and the Democratic convention held in Boston last month -- the first political conventions since the September 11, 2001 attacks -- as "National Special Security Events" cleared the way for heavy federal participation in what would otherwise have been a security headache for the Big Apple's 37,000-strong police force.
"Working in partnership with the New York City Police Department and other local and state organizations, the Department of Homeland Security has invested substantial resources and personnel to ensure a safe and secure event," said Ridge.
Some 50,000 participants are expected at the convention, including delegates, journalists and elected officials, including Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites).
"New York is protected by land, sea and air," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, adding that the security cordon around Madison Square Garden, the convention venue, would be so tight that, "If you aren't in the area around the Garden, you probably won't even know the convention is in town.
"Unless a delegate asks for directions," he added. "In that case, do as Ed Koch says, and 'Make Nice'," referring to a television commercial in which the former mayor urges New Yorkers to welcome the delegates.
Police say the area around the Garden will be sealed off to an 18-block radius, and only vehicles with special police permits will be allowed to enter.
That security perimeter will be patrolled around the clock by a 10,000-strong security force including New York City police, New York State police, FBI (news - web sites) agents, SWAT teams and attack dogs.
The city security force will be reinforced by the US Coast Guard, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, US Secret Service agents and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Security will be doubly tight along the three streets and three avenues abutting the Garden, access to which will be strictly limited to local residents and those accredited to the convention.
Inside that perimeter is the west side's Pennsylvania Station, to which a transit corridor has been set up to accommodate the half million workers who commute into and out of the city through the huge railway station each day.
"We are prepared," declared New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "Our officers have been trained to respond in a disciplined and effective way. The coverage will be more than adequate. We will be using in essence the entire department."
To illustrate the enormity of the security nightmare facing New York, Los Angeles police Lieutenant Peter Durham wrote in the National Journal:
"The Los Angeles Police Department can escort a presidential motorcade through the city with fewer than a hundred officers. My counterpart in New York uses 2,500 police officers to get the president from the Riverside helipad to the United Nations (news - web sites)."
The NYPD says it has purchased two high-tech non-lethal response weapons called long range acoustic devices, at 35,000 dollars each, capable of beaming incapacitating sound up to 150 decibels to distance of 274 meters (yards) to deal with demonstrators.
To those concerned lest civil rights be trampled in the interests of convention security, Wendell Shingler, director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Federal Protective Service, assured that, "We are great supporters of the First Amendment."
But, he added, "The troublemakers, we are not going to put up with."
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"The city and the state as well as many agencies and thousands of individuals have come together in partnership to provide an unprecedented, comprehensive level of security to protect this great city and the convention," said US Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.
Ridge's declaration of both the Republican convention, and the Democratic convention held in Boston last month -- the first political conventions since the September 11, 2001 attacks -- as "National Special Security Events" cleared the way for heavy federal participation in what would otherwise have been a security headache for the Big Apple's 37,000-strong police force.
"Working in partnership with the New York City Police Department and other local and state organizations, the Department of Homeland Security has invested substantial resources and personnel to ensure a safe and secure event," said Ridge.
Some 50,000 participants are expected at the convention, including delegates, journalists and elected officials, including Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites).
"New York is protected by land, sea and air," said Mayor Michael Bloomberg, adding that the security cordon around Madison Square Garden, the convention venue, would be so tight that, "If you aren't in the area around the Garden, you probably won't even know the convention is in town.
"Unless a delegate asks for directions," he added. "In that case, do as Ed Koch says, and 'Make Nice'," referring to a television commercial in which the former mayor urges New Yorkers to welcome the delegates.
Police say the area around the Garden will be sealed off to an 18-block radius, and only vehicles with special police permits will be allowed to enter.
That security perimeter will be patrolled around the clock by a 10,000-strong security force including New York City police, New York State police, FBI (news - web sites) agents, SWAT teams and attack dogs.
The city security force will be reinforced by the US Coast Guard, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, US Secret Service agents and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
Security will be doubly tight along the three streets and three avenues abutting the Garden, access to which will be strictly limited to local residents and those accredited to the convention.
Inside that perimeter is the west side's Pennsylvania Station, to which a transit corridor has been set up to accommodate the half million workers who commute into and out of the city through the huge railway station each day.
"We are prepared," declared New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "Our officers have been trained to respond in a disciplined and effective way. The coverage will be more than adequate. We will be using in essence the entire department."
To illustrate the enormity of the security nightmare facing New York, Los Angeles police Lieutenant Peter Durham wrote in the National Journal:
"The Los Angeles Police Department can escort a presidential motorcade through the city with fewer than a hundred officers. My counterpart in New York uses 2,500 police officers to get the president from the Riverside helipad to the United Nations (news - web sites)."
The NYPD says it has purchased two high-tech non-lethal response weapons called long range acoustic devices, at 35,000 dollars each, capable of beaming incapacitating sound up to 150 decibels to distance of 274 meters (yards) to deal with demonstrators.
To those concerned lest civil rights be trampled in the interests of convention security, Wendell Shingler, director of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Federal Protective Service, assured that, "We are great supporters of the First Amendment."
But, he added, "The troublemakers, we are not going to put up with."
Yahoo News
posted by R7 | 8/26/2004 02:57:00 PM
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