March 22, 2004
Hello, Monday Morning
Ah, to wake up on the first spring Monday morning of 2004 and not only hear about Israel killing the founder of Hamas which then in turn has the Hamas saying the U.S. will pay, but to also read that the NYPD is conducting subway sweeps to try to prevent terror attacks and the FDNY is creating a terror school at Randall's Island. The Martians hiding on the darkest spots of Mars are shaking their heads at us, Gothamist just knows it.
The NYPD has an operation called "NYPD Total Order Maintenance Sweep" which the Post describes as being a short inspection of train cars by 10-12 cops, right before it goes into a tunnel or over a bridge. Deputy Commissioner Paul Brown tells the Post, "The entire train is searched. In most cases, the public doesn't even know it's happening." Apparently the MTA and Amtrak have been stepping up procedures on commuter trains as well. The Daily News reports that the FDNY will be "devising doomsday scenarios" to get into the mind terrorists, such as this:
The group studying a chemical attack in the subway has come up with the following scenario: A terror group releases a certain chemical in a crowded rush-hour subway train. Scores of commuters are overcome and firefighters need to move fast to avoid mass casualties.
Gothamist is, of course, happy that the NYPD and FDNY are trying to deal with city safety issues, but it's still hard to grasp, even almost three years later.
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Hard to grasp and, frankly, hard to understand. One wonders, really, if all this activity does any good. I'm not saying I don't feel safer knowing that the NYPD and FDNY are busting their humps trying to protect the City (a job, by the way, one could argue is the shared responsibility of the Federal Government--we do pay taxes, right? And where are they? In fact, it can be further argued that the attacks on the WTC were not a failure of the Police but of the Federal government. But I'm splitting hairs. The reality is we need SOMEONE to be doing this job and I'd rather it be Ray Kelly than someone in Washington.) Still, you think about Israel for a moment. They've been living with terrorism for decades and they still can't guarantee the safety of their population. I don't mean to be an alarmist but all someone has to do is walk into Times Square, say, at noon, say, with an explosive and set it off. There's nothing to stop that from happening. It would be impossible---and terroristic---to stop and search everyone walking the streets. So what do we do to be safe? The ONLY thing is to agitate for justice and peace.
Whoa. That picture looks like something out of the Simpsons. Did Gothamist snap that or is it via the paper?
It's from the anthrax scare last year. Jake went up to Canal for some on-the-scene coverage.
Probably some of the worst Monday-morning pre-commute news ever.
My sister was on the LIRR on Friday when some guy jumped off the train at Jamaica just as the doors were about to close leaving his suitcase behind on the overhead rack. They told the conductor about the abandoned suitcase and two uniformed MTA PD officers jumped on at the next stop.
They didn't move the suitcase, but they didn't clear the car either. Apparently, the fellow didn't match one of their suspect profiles so there wasn't an obvious concern. The suitcase owner was waiting at Penn Station (apparently he had jumped on an express to Penn at Jamaica) with a police escort.
But really, our security response always seems to be too little too late. When the planes slammed into the WTC, there were still guards at the entrances to the underground garages inspecting trucks which wanted to enter. That didn't stop the planes. Our security responses seem to be attempting to protect against the last attack and not preventing the next.
The only effective security will be getting GW and his crew out of the whitehouse. Can they please officially move the whitehouse to a bunker in the midwest, now? Please?
....And as for any terrorists we might catch, sex changes for everyone and ship 'em back!