As the second jetliner rammed into the World Trade Center last Sept.
11,
three New York City police officers watched helplessly through the glass
bubble floor of their helicopter.
The officers -- detectives Patrick Walsh, Timothy Hayes and Don Gromling
--
had been circling the North Tower, radioing in information about the
gaping
hole caused by the first terrorist strike, when "they observed
the second
plane coming directly at them," said their supervisor, Capt. Joseph
Gallucci.
"They climbed out and the airplane flew directly underneath them,
maybe 150
feet below them, which is nothing when you're in a helicopter and a
big
aircraft going 500 miles per hour is that close." Like the three
officers,
who had no way to stop the hijacked airplane, the police department
on Sept.
11, 2001 was ill-equipped to stop terrorism.
At the time, less than two dozen of the force's 39,000 officers worked
full
time on terrorism, all assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force, then
the
only NYPD unit assigned to the issue.
But since the attacks, the focus of policing in New York City has changed.
Muggers, rapists and drug dealers have been knocked down a notch on
the
NYPD's priority list. Terrorism has become far and away the top focus
among
leaders, who learned the bitter lesson that it's not enough to depend
on
federal law enforcement to protect the city from terrorists.
More than 900 NYPD cops are now assigned to full-time terrorism-related
positions, most guarding bridges, landmarks or other likely targets.
And
when Ray Kelly became police commissioner in January, he brought in
military
and CIA officials, ordered new training and tried to upgrade equipment.
But despite what Eli Silverman, a professor at John Jay College of
Criminal
Justice, described as "a herculean effort [by the NYPD] to get
up to speed
in all areas of counterterrorism," the question remains -- is the
city safer
now than it was a year ago?
Like other law enforcement officials, Kelly said he thinks the answer
to
that is "absolutely." "We're much more vigilant,"
Kelly said. "We have
systems in place now and if, God forbid, something does happen, we're
more
ready to respond."
But Vincent Cannistraro, who headed the CIA's counterterrorism unit
before
becoming a security advisor, said New York is still a wide-open target.
"For anyone to say the city is buttoned down is foolish,"
he said. "There
are a lot of ways to attack New York City."
And even Kelly is concerned that the city budget crunch is forcing
the NYPD
to cut its budget at a time when it is in dire need of more protective
gear
and devices for chemical, radiological and biological detection. The
department, for instance, has "access" to U.S. Customs trucks
with radiation
and chemical detectors, but doesn't have such trucks of its own.
Radiation detection pagers, which were passed out to patrol sergeants
after
Sept. 11, were touted in the media. But Kelly, without saying how many
they
have, admits it's not enough.
"We'd like to get several hundred, we don't have that now, I'll
tell you
that," he said. And Kelly said "a lot more training is needed"
that will
require bringing officers in on overtime.
But in trying to close a $5 billion budget shortfall, Mayor Michael
Bloomberg has ordered Kelly to cut 7 percent, or $118 million, from
his
budget. "The budget situation is bad," Kelly said. "I
don't know what that
ultimately means for this department."
Turning to deeper pockets, Kelly said he has sought $500 million of
$3.1
billion appropriated by the federal government for first responders.
But
it's no sure bet the city will get all of that money.
Despite the budget constraints, Kelly said much progress has been made.
The department established its first Counter Terrorism Unit and brought
in
retired Marine Lt. Gen. Frank Libutti, who once commanded the Marine
Forces
Pacific, to serve as its head.
Under the hard-charging Libutti, the number of NYPD detectives assigned
to
the Joint Terrorist Task Force rose from about 20 to 120. Another 90
or so
detectives work for Libutti, whose duties Kelly described in generalities
as
"gathering information, analyzing information, putting together
training
packages, working more closely with the FBI" and "communicating
with people
in Washington."
Kelly also brought in the former fourth-highest ranking official in
the CIA,
David Cohen, who was once in charge of the agency's espionage division,
and
tasked him with revamping the department's Intelligence Division to
be more
focused on terrorism.
The trio meet every morning at 8 to discuss any new developments. From
their
talks some non-traditional NYPD strategic moves have emerged.
NYPD officers have been stationed with police in Toronto and at the
FBI
headquarters in Washington, D.C. Others are slated to be sent to Israel
and
to the Lyon, France, headquarters of Interpol, the international police
organization, to gather information.
The World Trade Center investigation has taken other NYPD officers
to
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Egypt and to the military prison in Guantanamo
Bay, Cuba, where city cops have interrogated captured members of al-Qaida
and the Taliban.
Kelly is also re-training a department that has prided itself on its
success
in fighting street crime.
Supervisors are being sent to the Naval War College in Newport, R.I.,
for
military training. Officers and recruits are being taught how to spot
suspicious identification, how to inspect cars for possible bombs and
how to
respond to terrorist attack.
One of the most important lessons of Sept. 11, Kelly said, is that
officers
have to be more disciplined when responding to a potential terrorist
threat
than when handling a typical New York crime.
"The training emphasizes you go to the mobilization point, check
in, form up
in teams and find out specifically what you're supposed to do. You don't
just go to the scene," he said.
To make sure police understand the new policy -- enshrined in Interim
Order
29 -- unannounced training exercises every 10 days to two weeks force
officers to deal with a terrorist threat, such as a possible bomb left
on a
real bridge. In the past year, about 6,000 of the 53,000 cops and civilians
in the NYPD have participated in such mobilization drills.
The new approach, Kelly said, is counterintuitive for most cops.
"If you spent any time on this job at all you think in single
events,
everybody rushing to the scene," Kelly said. "Now you have
to think about
multiple events, you have to think about the use of chemical or biological
agents. You have to think about working with other agencies, you have
to
think about working with the federal government. Those types of things
are
built into the scenarios."
Lack of coordination, especially between police and firefighters, has
been a
focus of recent criticism. A report by consultants McKinsey & Company
sad
the two agencies need to agree on their roles in major incidents, train
together and communicate better.
Lack of communication on Sept. 11 was caused partly by the agencies'
incompatible radios, according to the McKinsey report. It focused on
the
FDNY's outdated radios, which work poorly in high-rise buildings and
tunnels. UHF radios, purchased to allow communication with the NYPD,
failed
last year and haven't been distributed. McKinsey urged the FDNY to finish
testing the radios in hopes of getting them to firefighters within four
months.
Kelly and Fire Commissioner Nicholas Scoppetta have at least made a
public
show of bridging the long-standing chasm between the two departments
by
appointing liaisons to each other's department. But Kelly said essentially
the FDNY must switch to the UHF system to be compatible with police
radios.
Since Sept. 11, the NYPD also has turned to the public for help. A
hotline
-- 888-NYC-SAFE-- takes tips. "We get 40 to 50 calls a day on that
hotline,"
Kelly said, "and they're pretty thoughtful, not crazy." Every
tip gets
pursued, he said, though none have resulted in a major break.
Intel officers have visited about 1,500 stores in the city that sell
materials -- like scuba gear, chemicals or guns -- that terrorists could
use
and have asked them to be on the lookout for suspicious characters.
In the subways, extra alarms have been placed at sensitive locations,
on
certain tunnels and substation power plants, police sources said. "We
actually have cops setting the alarms off intentionally and seeing if
other
cops respond," a source said. Security at subway yards has been
stiffened.
Police have adopted a "zero tolerance" policy on homeless
people living in
subway tunnels -- they're arrested if found, said the source -- and
a
crackdown on unlicensed subway vendors. Transit workers must all wear
their
identifications, it's no longer good enough just to have on a "vest
and
flashlight," the source said.
And a language survey of the department has uncovered 27 Arabic speakers
who
can be used in a number of roles, Kelly said.
Most of the NYPD changes haven't been noticeable to the public but
others
are planned to be obvious.
On a sunny afternoon last month, pilot Tony Spero and his co-pilot
Charlie
Caliendo flew their Bell Long Ranger 206 over the Hudson River, hovering
to
make sure no one was near the Holland Tunnel's air vents. Then the chopper
zoomed off to the Statue of Liberty, circling it conspicuously as tourists
looked skyward.
The NYPD pilots were showboating, which is part of their mission on
a
"Hercules" patrol. Under the Hercules program, teams of cops
-- wearing
heavy armor-plated vests and carrying Heckler and Koch MP5 9-mm. submachine
guns or Ruger Mini 14 rifles -- have shown up at places like the Brooklyn
Bridge, the Empire State Building or Yankee Stadium.
"We have our eyes on all public events," said Sgt. Eugene
O'Connor, 46, head
of Emergency Service Unit truck 1.
"We have information that indicates planners on the other side
can be
disrupted," Kelly said.
"They look for set patterns in their reconnaissance. What we want
to do is
throw them off." Hercules and the NYPD's other responses to terrorism
represent the most drastic change in its mission since 1940, when the
police
mobilized for civil defense in anticipation of World War II, according
to
Thomas Reppetto, an NYPD historian who co-authored the book "NYPD:
A City
and Its People."
And no NYPD unit was changed more significantly than its aviators.
"The days of just chasing bad guys and doing rescues with helicopters
is
over," Gallucci said. "We'll still continue to do that type
of work but the
occupation of airborne law enforcement has risen to new heights for
sure.
It's become a way of life now and this is the way it's going to be for
the
rest of our careers in this unit."
Now, the Aviation Unit patrols likely terrorist targets. And ESU officers
have been practicing "fast roping," sliding down ropes from
hovering
helicopters to get into a problem area quickly. According to Gallucci,
there
have also "been some very real discussions about arming the New
York City
Police helicopters making them capable of disabling planes, boats .
. ."
Among the possible weapons discussed, he said, have been .50-caliber
guns.
"But the Aviation Unit is also a good example of the predicament
the NYPD
has faced over the past year in its battle against terrorism. Lack of
equipment and money to pay for new equipment is endemic in nearly all
the
NYPD's units.
In the aviation unit, the four most-used helicopters -- three Jet Rangers
and the Long Ranger -- are eight to 13 years old. The Jet Rangers drag
on
humid days and at most can carry one passenger along with its two pilots.
Not all the choppers have equipment to send aerial pictures by computer
and
the radio equipment on board could use an upgrade.
The unit is due to get updated models for those aircraft, Gallucci
said, and
a new $9.8 million Bell 412 helicopter modified with "extremely
high-tech
computer equipment and tracking devices." But those plans were
in motion
before Sept. 11.
Besides money troubles, there's worry that the added focus on stopping
terrorists will divert cops' attention and result in a spike in crime.
"If
we're doing counterterrorism work, they're not doing traditional crime
fighting and that's a concern," Kelly said. "So far they've
been able to
handle it."
In fact,city crime has dropped almost 6 percent from 2001. Murders,
down
131/2 percent from last year, are on pace to be as low as in 42 years.
When it comes to being ready for terrorism, New York is also doing
well,
said Jerome Hauer, assistant secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services
and
former head of the city's Office of Emergency Management. Although a
lot
remains to be done, he said, " from my perspective, New York continues
to be
the best prepared city in the country."
Similarly, James Kallstrom, a lead adviser to the State Office of Public
Safety, said the city and state are in "pretty good shape."
Most problems,
he said, "are federal issues, who comes and goes, who flies into
Kennedy
airport, who's allowed into the port of New York."
"Overall, I would hope that people feel ," Kallstrom said.
"But the reality
is that this is a war we're in and that it's going to go on for some
time.
Are we better off? Certainly we're better off because at least we're
recognizing the problem now."
Copyright C 2004, Newsday, Inc.
