The NYPD is pulling out all the stops to protect city residents as they face a perfect storm of anti-Semitic strife felt across the globe, Mayor Adams vowed Wednesday.
“This city is under watch,” Adams assured alongside NYPD interim Commissioner Thomas Donlon at NYPD headquarters under a row of gigantic video screens showing real-time feeds of sensitive locations throughout the city. “Your city will protect you. No matter what is going on around the globe, here in New York City you will be safe.”
Police will be out in droves over the next few days as they protect Jewish residents during the beginning of Rosh Hashanah, as well as prepare for any blowback from Tuesday’s Iranian missile attack against Israel and Israel’s ground invasion of Lebanon.
Cops are also preparing for this coming Monday, when Adams said a “significant” number of protests are being planned to mark the first anniversary of Hamas’ bloody attack on Israel.
“It will mark one of the worst terror attacks against the Jewish people since the Holocaust,” Adams said.
More than 4,000 protests over the Israel-Hamas conflict have occurred across the city since Oct. 7, police said. While the city will defend everyone’s right to protest, the NYPD will not tolerate any violence or disruptions, the likes of which have happened at some past protests, Adams warned.
“There will be a zero tolerance for those who violate the law, impede traffic and damage property while doing so,” Adams said. “People will not be threatened.”
Although he is currently under federal indictment for allegedly receiving bribes, Adams said he expects his federal partners will come through for the city.
“This organization is a professional one,” Adams said. “No matter what happens in this city at any particular time to any individuals, the operation continues.”
Besides an influx of police officers — both in uniform and in plainclothes — and heavy-weapons teams, cops will be adding additional cameras at key locations and activate 21 recently graduated K-9 dogs, who will be “checking sensitive locations each day,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner said.
There have been no specific threats against New York City so far in light to the Oct. 7 anniversary, according to police. But last month a 20-year-old man was stopped at the Canadian border and accused of planning to carry out a mass shooting at a Brooklyn Jewish Center.
“One of our biggest fears is the lone wolf,” Adams said, encouraging New Yorkers who see something suspicious or out of the ordinary in the next few days to call police.
Anti-Semitic hate crimes have jumped by 75% so far this year, from 157 this time last year to 275, NYPD Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny said. The lion’s share of the crimes have been nonviolent graffiti or “swastika motivated” attacks, said Kenny, who said he has added detectives to the department’s Hate Crimes Task Force to investigate the additional incidents.
Weiner described the last year as “incredibly challenging” as police continue to brace against ripples of hatred sparked by Oct. 7.
“Blood has been shed all over the [Mideast] region and the already heightened pressures we have been talking about over the last year [have] ratcheted up even further,” Weiner said. “At a time of violence and turmoil around the world, we are here to assure you that New York City is an extremely safe place for all. We have kept this city safe and will continue to do so.”
Over the next few weeks, city residents are expected to see more heavily armed “Hercules” teams of the NYPD Emergency Service Unit and uniformed officers in marked police vehicles at Jewish institutions, synagogues, foreign consulates and public places, like Times Square and Central Park, NYPD officials said. The visible surge in police patrols in the city is intended to be an added protection, as well as a deterrent to anyone thinking of committing a bias crime during these turbulent times, police said.
At the same time, the NYPD Intelligence Bureau is also in constant contact with its overseas liaisons, getting real-time information on the conflict in the Middle East, as well as reviewing chatter on social media, to see if any possible attacks are being coordinated here, officials said.