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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Police Commissioner Bratton Requests 450 More Officers to Fight Terrorism

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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton

As the fear over the threat of terrorism continues to swell around the world, New York City becomes increasingly on edge that it’s time to take extra security precautions.

Although we have not experienced the caliber such as the attacks in Paris, we have a history of being a major target and ISIS has already begun to infiltrate young minds through the use of video games and social media.

Since the New Year there have been numerous arrests in Brooklyn and Queens for people attempting to assist ISIS from afar, building homemade bombs and laying out plans of attack.

On the John Catsimatidis show, Police Commissioner Bill Bratton discussed these very issues and how he wishes to combat the Islamic extremist threat, calling for the addition of at least 450 new police officers to the force.

Bratton said, “We need to be very concerned about terrorism … The significantly increased threat from ISIS using social media to recruit people not only to go to Syria to fight, but encouraging people … to attack police, to attack government officials, to basically brainwash them under their screwed-up ideology. That threat has expanded significantly in the now 16 months I’ve been police commissioner.”

“We’re treating that threat so seriously, I’m going to put another 450 police officers – if we get the approval to increase the size of the police force – and I need to do it very very quickly – into our counterterrorism operations to increase the ability of our officers to protect critical sites around the city. Or, if we were to have an incident, so I’d have a lot more officers in the streets with the appropriate equipment to deal with active shooters or hostage situations.

“We are entering a new era where we cannot live in fear, but we have to live increasingly aware of our surroundings … This crazy hijacking of the Muslim religion by these fanatics, twisting it into an ideology that’s all about hate and murder and killing.” Bratton added.

Recently New York Mayor Bill de Blasio released a budget to increase resources for the NYPD, but he did not include any funding for additional police officers. The City Council has requested 1,000 new officers from the mayor, while Bratton has settled on a modest 450. Therefore, it seems Bratton and de Blasio will have to meet somewhere in the middle.

“I’m making a case for a very specific number of officers to support the initiatives that the mayor has indicated he wants us to focus on: counter-terrorism, improved training, improved responsiveness and trust to the various minority communities, in particular, in the city. So, we have presented to him numbers that, I think, will deliver what he is indicating he is looking for.”

“Politics is the art of negotiation. I think there’s going to be common ground that we’ll hopefully get most of what we’re looking for to implement the mayor’s plans.” Bratton added.

When it comes to the “Broken Windows” policing, which can be beneficial for catching potentially dangerous criminals or simply become a nuisance for upstanding citizens, Bratton wants to find a middle ground.

Bratton said, “I think we’re going to find common ground where I get to keep the powers my officers need. We will be able to still enforce these quality-of-life laws. But the process will ensure that nobody is inappropriately jailed or significantly inconvenienced for some of these offenses.”

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