New York City receives larger DHS grant for subway security

Jen Chung at Gothamist and Al Baker of the Times have good coverage of the new, much-increased Department of Homeland Security grant to provide security for New York City subways, including the 16 underwater tunnels that link the boroughs to each other, and to the mainland (the Bronx, of course, is actually on the mainland). From Gothamist:

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff announced New York City will receive $153 million – up from last year’s $61 million – in transit security grants. Wow – all we can do is remember Chertoff’s 2005 remark, when trying discussing how security funding would be allocated, “The truth of the matter is, a fully loaded airplane with jet fuel, a commercial airliner, has the capacity to kill 3,000 people. A bomb in a subway car may kill 30 people. When you start to think about your priorities, you’re going to think about making sure you don’t have a catastrophic thing first.”

– snip –

The money will be spit up between the MTA, NJ Transit and Amtrak, with 20% going to the NYPD. And Kelly revealed to the AP the funding enabled a new subway initiative, Operation Torch, to be up and running in three weeks: “You’ll see officers with automatic weapons, you will see additional bomb-sniffing dogs funded by this program.” Um, yay? And two other interesting facts, from NY1: “The MTA alone moves half of all mass transit riders in the nation” and, post- September 11, Homeland Security has spent $24 billion on aviation security but a little over half a billion on transit security.

Jen Chung, Homeland Security Boosts NYC Transit Security Funds

, on Gothamist.

We draw no inferences about the cause of the change in the Secretary’s attitude about New York City and mass transit, but would like to think that he was persuaded on the merits.

From New Operation to Put Heavily Armed Officers in Subways, by Al Baker:

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attack, police patrols increased in the subways, particularly at the entrances to the 16 underwater tunnels. As terrorists have hit rail systems around the world, the police in New York have reacted with strategies tailored to thwart similar attacks.

For instance, after the bombings of three trains and a bus in London on July 7, 2005, police officials in New York took steps to protect the city’s subways, including random inspections of train riders’ backpacks and packages, a program that continues today.

“New York remains at the top of the terrorist target list, and mass transit remains a concern because it has been targeted many times around the world,” Mr. Kelly said in a statement released by his chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne. “There have been several thwarted plots against New York’s subway system as well.”

Each team in the operation will comprise a bomb-sniffing dog and six officers: a dog handler and a sergeant and four officers from the Emergency Service Unit who will be outfitted in heavy, bullet-resistant vests and Kevlar helmets and will carry automatic weapons, either an M-4 rifle or an MP5 submachine gun.

The officers will work in shifts of 12 hours to provide as much coverage of the subway system as possible, Mr. Browne said.

We have a couple of questions about this. First, calling this project “Operation Torch,” the name for the Allied invasion of north Africa in November 1942, commanded by General Eisenhower. There are several possibe meanings: the subways are a “second front” (the strategic thinking behind Operation Torch was to relieve pressure on the Russians by forcing the Germans to fight on two fronts at once); they picked the name for some other reason, and don’t know or care about World War II; Mayor Bloomberg is like F.D.R.; Commissioner Kelly is like Eisenhower.

Second, since we’ve now got officers on routine patrol carrying more powerful weapons, and in enclosed spaces:

  • Has any consideration been given to what rounds (ammunition) will be used in the subways, given the possibility that rounds – even after they’ve penetrated a body (or two), may well hit surfaces – like steel columns – from which they might ricochet;
  • Having given these officers this large responsibility and equipment which, for a police department, aren’t routine – and given our other deadly-force issues – will these offcers be given routine ongoing training – rather than the typical New York City twice-a-year on the range requalification?