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New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly recently announced that he wants to create a special high security zone in midtown Manhattan with surveillance cameras, license plate readers and highly equipped personnel at a cost of $58 million. The initiative, however, has yet to be fully funded, according to an article in the New York Times:

The plan, which would resemble a counterterrorism network already being installed in Lower Manhattan between Canal Street and Battery Park, would keep a hyper-vigilant eye on the corridor from 34th to 59th Streets, from the Hudson River to the East River…Like its sister system, the Midtown zone would have at its core the collection of data, including license plate numbers and video of people on the streets. It would rely on a web of public and private security cameras feeding to a joint coordination center at 55 Broadway that became functional last fall…The Police Department has requested $21 million in federal grant money to pay for the first phase, said Mr. Kelly, who added that the cost could reach $58 million. 

This underscores a key challenge for Commissioner Kelly and other law enforcement officials: continuing to find the money, now almost eight years from 9/11 and during difficult economic times, to pay for the homeland security initiatives they feel are still necessary. It is a subject I recently discussed with Christopher Dickey, author of Securing The City: Inside America’s Best Counterterror Force — The NYPD, who has spent a good deal of time with Kelly. Dickey told me he feels the Commissioner is going to have some “trouble” when it comes to funding these types of major security initiatives as the public become less and less worried about terrorism (particularly in the midst of a financial crisis).

But Dickey has noticed that Kelly of late has talking more openly about potential terrorist threats than he has in the past. Dickey cites Kelly’s appearances in a number of public forums discussing lessons from last year’s terror attack on Mumbai, India  – a city that in a number of ways fits New York City’s profile as a target (Two of Kelly’s statements on Mumbai and New York can be found here and here). Kelly’s challenge going forward, according to Dickey, is striking a balance between explaining his concerns about terrorism in New York without overly scaring New Yorkers. It will be a similar challenge for federal (as well as other local and state) officials.

photo credit: The Gothamist