Law enforcementNYPD works with suburban police to stop terrorism

In the ten years since 9/11, the New York City police department (NYPD) has worked to forge closer ties with local police departments in an effort to stop terrorist attacks.

“The idea is to add rings of security,” explained chief inspector John Hodges of the Westchester County police. “What’s changed since 9/11 is New York City has learned that people who might want to bring something into New York City will have to infiltrate from somewhere outside.”

The perpetrators of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center, the 2005 London train and bus bombing, and the recent attacks in Oslo, Norway all built bombs in the suburbs and then brought them into the city for the attacks.

“So we need eyes and ears around and outside of New York City to help us,” said Ray Kelly, the commissioner of the NYPD.

“We’re all in this together,” he added. “We’re very much aware of the absolute necessity for us to work in partnership with local law enforcement agencies.”

To bolster coordination and capabilities, NYPD purchased and distributed hundreds of wearable radiation detectors to departments in the region to help detect a dirty bomb heading for the city. The radiation detectors were purchased under Securing the Cities, a DHS grant program that began in 2006.

Kelly said the program includes 150 agencies in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

In addition, the Westchester County police, located roughly thirty miles north of New York City, gather intelligence and share information regarding potential targets that could affect the city, like the Kensico Dam or the Indian Point nuclear power plant. Police officers from the entire metropolitan area also participate in anti-terrorism drills and local officers say they developed personal ties with NYPD that can help improve emergency response.

“We’re much closer than we were in the past,” Hodges said. “I would say, before 9/11, if I talked to the NYPD once a year it was alot.”

Warren Stern, the director of DHS’ Domestic Nuclear Detection Office, echoed these sentiments stating, “It’s really a first in terms of the way these authorities have integrated response activities, what they’ve learned about technology and how they exercise together.”

“From the outset, creating a regional approach and regional cooperation is one of the key objectives,” Stern said. “New York City knows it can’t do all of this itself.”

Other programs designed to combat potential terrorist threats include having suburban police officers routinely checking in with businesses like hardware stores, storage facilities, and beauty-supply wholesalers to see if there have been any recent purchases of large quantities of chemicals that can be used to build a bomb.

Officials believe their efforts have largely paid off, given the arrests of four suburban men in 2009 who were plotting to blow up two synagogues in New York City and to shoot down military airplanes. The four men, dubbed the Newburgh Four, came to the attention of the police after officers investigated a suspicious storage unit in Orange County.

Even with the added police work, local officers do not seem to mind because they believe that their work benefits not only New York City but also their own jurisdictions.

“I would have to say it’s made suburban departments better,” Hodges said. “It’s given the officers a broader, more global perspective on what their mission is: not just their precinct or department but to protect this major metropolitan area.”

Commissioner Kelly added, “Law enforcement is working together now better than ever, more cooperation than ever, more collaboration than ever. Everyone realizes the necessity of that. … If something happens in New York of a catastrophic nature, it’s going to have a ripple effect throughout the country and probably throughout the world.”