NYC Mayor Recommends Putting NYPD in Charge of Response

New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg is recommending that the New York Police Department take command of both the Metropolitan Transit Authority and Port Authority police during any major transit-related disasters.

According to an article by David Saltonstall in the New York Daily News, Bloomberg’s recommendation could be “setting up a showdown between the rival agencies.”

“This would allow a singular and accountable response to disasters,” Bloomberg told Saltonstall. “And [it would] avoid any confusion that may result from multiple commands responding to the same event.”

Saltonstall says the recommendations came as part of a “broader crime-fighting agenda Bloomberg said he would pursue if reelected - and it came during the first of several speeches set to focus on plans for a possible second term.”

But critics of the proposal “questioned potentially sidelining veteran transit officers with deep knowledge of complex sites such as Kennedy Airport and make them take orders from possibly junior NYPD officers,” Saltonstall says.

To read the full article, click here: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/local/story/351112p-299470c.html