NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — The NYPD is taking “extraordinary precautions” to protect New York City as it marks the 20th anniversary of 9/11, but officials have yet to field any “specific” or “credible” threats, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday.
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At a news briefing Wednesday morning, de Blasio said the NYPD will have “deployments all over New York City in the days ahead, and particularly on, 9/11.”
The National September 11 Memorial & Museum is holding a commemoration ceremony at Ground Zero for 9/11 victims’ family members on Saturday morning.
“We have a major anniversary coming up, and the eyes of the world will be on New York City, which means we have to take extraordinary precautions to protect all New Yorkers,” the mayor said. “As of this moment, there is no specific and credible threat directed at New York City.”
“And we are watching, because we know the ways of the terrorists; we understand this anniversary is going to be on their minds too,” he added. “We’ve seen some attacks recently and around the world that are worrisome, which is why we monitor all the time.”
The NYPD will be using explosive-detecting dogs and devices, license plate readers, cameras, “heavy weapons teams” and “meteorological and chemical sensors" as part of its security plan, the department’s Chief of Counterterrorism, Martine Materasso, said at the briefing.
The agency has been preparing for the ceremony for months, Materasso said. All ceremony attendees will be screened before entering Memorial plaza, and the NYPD’s Joint Terrorism Task Force will be investigating threats “prior to and during the ceremony,” she noted.
“There will be measures in and around the World Trade Center site that the public will see,” she said. “And there will be many that they won’t.”
De Blasio on Wednesday also took the opportunity to warn New Yorkers not to fly drones at or around Ground Zero, “not just on Saturday, but on every day.”
“Some people — ostensibly innocently — have had drones, and used them in that area to take photos. Unacceptable. Not going to be tolerated, they’re going to be confiscated,” he said. “It’s too sensitive, and too much has happened.”
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