NYPD WILL
COVER THE MARATHON LIKE A
BLUE BLANKET
MARATHON
COMPETITORS RUNNING ACROSS THE VERRAZANO BRIDGE
AS NYPD
AVIATION UNIT CHOPPER HOVERS OVERHEAD
TAGS:
44TH NYC MARATHON, NYPD ASSIGNED 4,000 OFFICERS TO THE MARATHON
ROUTE,
RUNNERS
CONFIDENT IN NYPD, NYPD TO PROVIDE “BLANKET COVERAGE”
(Saturday, November 1, 2014,
Central Park, NYC) The broad blue finish
line for tomorrows running of the 44th New York City Marathon was
painted days ago. Approximately 50,000
runners will line up at the Staten Island side of the grand span of the Verrazano-Narrows
Bridge and run the 26 mile course that weaves its way through all Five
Boroughs. The race course will be lined
along the way by thousands of spectators and will attract larger crowds at key
points along the way. As with every
major mass gathering since September 11, 2001, security is the top priority and
the NYPD is taking measures to enhance its already robust security
apparatus. No other Police Department in
the country, perhaps the world, is more experienced and better prepared for
events such as this but, after the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013,
security for this year’s running will be even more stringent than last year.
RECENT EVENTS
In our post – 9/11/01 world
security has become the top priority for the NYPD and agencies in other cities
most notably Washington, DC. All mass
gathering are now approached as mass casualty possibilities and every measure
to ensure crowd safety from the utilization of advanced technology to the low
tech basics of policing are employed.
Our City in many ways has become “Surveillance City”. One can hardly escape the watchful gaze of
the over 24,000 closed circuit surveillance cameras operated by the NYPD and
the hundreds of thousands more used by private companies and properties. Some bristle about this state of affairs
claiming their loss of privacy but, at least for the time being that is a
relatively modest sacrifice New Yorker’s have to accept. Our City is, after all, the primary “target –
rich” environment for terrorists of every kind as well as those individuals who
act alone either out of newly found identity with a radical cause or mental
illness; in some cases it is a volatile combination of both.
Recently we have seen
individuals breech the White House perimeter and ax-wielding men attack Police
Officers in NYC and DC. Last week in Ottawa Canada a lone gunman entered the Parliament
building there killing a uniformed guard before being shot dead himself. Whether or not they are self-proclaimed “jihadis” is of little significance. What is important is the increasing number of
attacks on Law Enforcement Officers (LEO’s) many of which have been fatal. There may be a “copy-cat” element to this
disturbing trend and clearly there is no way possible to identify and monitor
every individual who may lash out at the most visible representatives of
governance, uniformed Police Officers.
This year we have witnessed several incidents where Police Officers were
ambushed in places from Las Vegas to Eastern Pennsylvania. Based on the raw statistics covering the last
10 years, a Member of Service (MOS) of the Law Enforcement Community is killed
every 58 hours in this country. Just in
the last two weeks we have seen a troubling escalation of violence on MOS with
16 Officers being killed by armed assailants in just eight days. This is truly an incredible number when one
takes a minute to consider it.
SECURITY SEEN AND UNSEEN
There will be 4,000 NYPD
Officers specifically assigned to the marathon.
This number does not necessarily include the highly skilled MOS of the
Emergency Services Unit (ESU), the 20 craft that will be patrolling the waters
around NYC by the NYPD Harbor Unit as well as the “eyes in the skies” of the
Aviation Unit. There will be a large
uniformed police presence as well as security measures employed that will be
hidden from the public’s view. Suffice
to say, there will be a heavy blanket of security for the marathon and runners
as well as spectators should go out and enjoy the spectacle of it all.
Copyright The Brooding
Cynyx 2014 © All Rights Reserved
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