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NYPD Getting A Bullet Proof Boat With FEMA Money
By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 15, 2011
Modified Mar 15, 2011
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By
Garth Johnston
Published Mar 15, 2011
Modified Mar 15, 2011
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Ray Kelly (still our Police Commissioner!) went to the City Council today to talk budgets. But between talking up how the NYPD has cut its current $4.88 billion budget down to $4.45 billion (we'll get to that in a later post) he let slip that the department is continuing to learn lessons from the terrorist attacks in Mumbai. In fact, studying that attack has led the NYPD to place an order for a bullet-proof boat.
The cost of the boat (bullet proof ain't cheap) isn't coming out of the city's pockets though. Instead it is being paid for by $5.2 million grant from FEMA. The "high-speed, ballistic-protected vessel" will be used "to respond to a suicide or live shooter attack in a port area," Kelly explained. The FEMA grant will also be used to train the officers who would use said boat.
The boat is a well timed announcement for Kelly considering Mayor Bloomberg just laid out his expanded vision of our waterfronts. And with any luck they'll get some shark-repellent in there, too.
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