By Connor Adams Sheets
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday New York City, with the help of federal funds, is prepared to host high-profile terror trials in its courts.
Plans for protecting the city during the pending prosecution in Manhattan federal court of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and other U.S. targets, are already in the advanced stages, Kelly said, and the city will be able to provide a high level of security.
He said the city will not know when Mohammed’s trial will begin until as little as 45 days before he is transported to the city. He said the NYPD expects to receive about $215 million from the federal government for security for the first year of his trial and $200 million for every year thereafter that the proceedings take place. “No one knows how long this trial could go. It could go several years,” he said.
Kelly emphasized during remarks at the New York Press Club that the city needs the federal money, most of which will be spent on overtime pay for officers, in order to provide the necessary level of protection.If the Police Departmentreceives the resources it needs, “we can do it,” he said.
Police are also prepping for the trials of four Flushing men arrested in recent months on terror charges and four other terror suspects currently detained at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, Kelly said, adding that the NYPD is prepared for the possibility of terror trials taking place in courthouses in both Manhattan and Brooklyn at the same time.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg echoed Kelly’s concerns about police funding during his State of the City address in Astoria Tuesday afternoon.
“The NYPD and its federal partners have thwarted more than a dozen terrorist plots over the years, but 2009 saw more domestic plots than in any recent year,” Bloomberg said. “So we must continue giving our officers the best possible tools for protecting our city and our country.”
The protections police will provide during the Mohammed trial will focus in large part on the lower Manhattan area near the courthouse, employing metal barriers, police snipers, random vehicle stops and other measures. But police in all five boroughs will be on a high level of alert since the trial is expected to bring “unprecedented” media attention and interest, large demonstrations and the increased possibility of a security incident, Kelly said.
“Not only will we have to protect the core area of Manhattan, we’ll have to provide additional protection for the entire city,” he said.
Reach reporter Connor Adams Sheets by e-mail at csheets@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 138.
