The Extraordinary 'ring of steel' around Ground Zero:NYPD Steps Up Dirty Bomb Threat Protection With $200m Project



• Police want to make lower Manhattan safest business district in world
• Security upgrade includes mobile radiation detectors and cameras
• Foreign terrorists known to want to use dirty bombs against city

• By Mark Duell

  Last updated at 7:12 PM on 29th July 2011

  
  

  Details emerged today of the extraordinary lengths the NYPD is going to as they attempt to make lower Manhattan the safest business district in the world and protect it from a dirty bomb threat.
  

  New York City police are stepping up protection against the threat of a radioactive attack on the area as part of a $200million security upgrade.

  A command centre will monitor 2,000 mobile radiation detectors carried by officers each day around the city, which will send a wireless, real-time alert if there's a reading signalling a dirty bomb threat.

  
  

  View: New York police are stepping up protection against the threat...

  
  

  High-security area: The radiation detection system is part of a $20...

  The system already is being tested under the watch of federal authorities in hopes it can be perfected and used elsewhere.

  HOW MANHATTAN WILL BE KEPT SAFE

  • 2,000 mobile radiation detectors carried by NYPD officers
  • 3,000 CCTV security cameras over 1.7 miles (1,800 so far)
    
  • High-tech command centre in lower Manhattan
  • 'Video analytic' computer software to detect threats
  • Software can search for specific shapes, sizes and colours

  ‘This is the first and only place you'll see it,’ an NYPD counterterrorism official said.‘It's been tested in the field. It works, and we're hoping to get (the wireless detectors) deployed in a few months.’

  A dirty bomb has never been discovered in a U.S. terror plot, but they are a serious threat because they are easy to build and foreign terrorists are known to want to use them against U.S. cities.

  The radiation detection system is part of a $200million security initiative in lower Manhattan.

  It has been inspired by the so-called ‘ring of steel’ encircling the London business district in Britain.

  But this is certainly broader in scope and sophistication.

  
  

  Thwarting the threat: Police officers work in the operations centre...

  It will rely largely on 3,000 closed-circuit security cameras carpeting the roughly 1.7 square miles south of Canal Street, the subway system and parts of midtown Manhattan.

  So far, about 1,800 cameras are up and running, with the rest expected to come on line by the end of the year. Only 500 cameras were online at this time last year, reported the New York Post.

  Police began monitoring live feeds in 2008 from the cameras at a high-tech command centre in lower Manhattan - home to Wall Street, the new development at Ground Zero and other important sites.

  ‘We're talking about some of the most significant targets anywhere in the world,’ Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said.

  

  Changing landscape: One World Trade Center, left, rises up in the Manhattan skyline in this aerial photo

  The NYPD is using a single, high-bandwidth fibre-optic network to connect all its cameras to a central computer system.

  It's also pioneering ‘video analytic’ computer software designed to detect threats, like unattended bags, and retrieve stored images based on descriptions of terror or other criminal suspects.
  

  Security around the World Trade Center site is a huge concern for New York police, who know terrorists could try to launch another attack on the new building in an attempt to insult the Americans.

  
  

  New system: NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly wants lower Manhattan to be the world's safest business district

  Officials are desperate to avoid anything close to the tragic attacks of 9/11, when more than 2,000 people died in New York after a terrorist attack organised by Al Qaeda on the Twin Towers.

  Two months ago fears were raised over the new World Trade Center skyscraper's security after 'confidential' detailed plans of the building were posted online on an official city website.
  

  The secure schematics showed ground floor entrances and where the PATH rail tunnels will pass below, as well as mechanical rooms, ventilation shafts, exits, elevators and stairs.

  But the Port Authority said the documents were 'scrubbed' of sensitive information about One World Trade Center's electrical systems, plumbing, security and fire safety.

  
  Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk

 

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