“We can’t predict what is going to happen, but are adequately prepared,” says Police Commissioner Ray Kelly. From the New York Daily News, :
Hundreds of detectives in the NYPD’s elite specialized units are being ordered to put aside cases and ride the rails as extra security as early as this weekend, the Daily News has learned.
Narcotics, vice, gang and organized crime investigators will join hundreds of transit and patrol cops on the subways – creating a formidable underground police force to combat terror threats leading up to and during the Republican National Convention, sources said.
A directive, handed down by Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly on Wednesday night, requires many of the detectives to don uniforms, although some will remain in plainclothes, police sources said.
“It’s going to be massive,” said a Brooklyn detective. “They want a uniformed cop on every train.”
Most detectives will move underground Monday afternoon but some will begin as soon as this weekend, sources said.
The extra manpower will remain in place until President Bush and other Republican honchos leave town.