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NYPD's "Operation Sentinel" Will Photograph Every Car Coming to Manhattan
By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 12, 2008
Modified Aug 12, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published Aug 12, 2008
Modified Aug 12, 2008
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The NYPD is serious about security in this post-9/11 world, and, amongst many elements in a proposal called "Operation Sentinel,"is the plan to photograph every single car coming into NYC. The NY Times reports that the goal is to "strengthen the city’s guard against a potential terror attack." Vehicles would be photographed, license plates scanned, and checked for radioactivity.
Cameras would be set up at bridges and tunnels. The NYPD says that if a vehicle does not appear suspicious (after running it through a databased), the information will be deleted. Previously, the NYPD has mentioned its Lower Manhattan Security Initiative, which would ultimately have 3,000 cameras in place; now the NYPD has released details of how security would be tightened up around Ground Zero. Those plans include a dozen guard booths, specific areas where tour buses can drop off and pick up passengers, and a bomb screening center for service and delivery trucks to the World Trade Center.
There are some questions about whether this is too much. A doorman told 1010 WINS, "There's a balance that needs to be had, and that needs to be constantly upheld. How much safer is that really going to make us? We're getting closer and closer to a police state. How much are civil liberties going to be encroached upon in the name of quote-on-quote security?"
Tagged
lower manhattan
nypd
Operation Sentinel
safety
security
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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