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16 November 2015—
“The world is changing even as we stand here. The world changed dramatically over the weekend…. That threat is growing and morphing in new and dangerous directions, as evidenced by the events in Paris.” Said NYPD Commissioner William Bratton to the inaugural members of the Critical Response Command (CRC), a new elite squad of the NYPD Counter Terrorism Bureau, on Monday, 16 November.
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“You are not only part of the finest police force in the nation and in this world – you are in fact the best of the best. You are part of the first deployment of the Critical Response Command (CRC). You are now part of the front line of this city’s defense against terrorism.” Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
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100 officers of the CRC , all ready to go to their first assignment, were listening to Mayor de Blasio and Commissioner Bill Bratton.
Commissioner Bratton: “I want to thank you for volunteering for this assignment. You now, over this period of time, have received additional training,”, and continued: “Over the next several days, you will also be issued the smartphone devices that will be such a significant part of your counterterrorism responsibility,”
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And Mr. Bratton added that they would all be receiving training on the long guns and the heavy vest equipment, and continued: “Eventually, there will be about 560 of you. You are a work in progress. We estimate by January 1st, as we move toward New Year’s Eve, you will be fully up and running for that event – the first major event that you all – 500-sum-odd of you – will be involved in. “
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100 newly created Critical Response Command officers moved toward their patrol cars and vans, and one by one, in a orderly manner left for duty.
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After they left, Mayor de Blasio and Bratton addressed the media.
“Well, as you just saw a few moments ago, we are taking our anti-terrorism efforts to the next level. We just employed our first 100 officers of the Critical Response Command. This is the new elite squad of the NYPD Counter Terrorism Bureau.” said de Blasio.
Blatton gave more information on the unit: “The officers are all volunteers. They have all been interviewed, selected; have received training on the very critical issues of counter-terrorism, protection of facilities, and sites….
They are expected to have both an offense and a defense role – defense, certainly, every day….. And, they will be equipped to go towards the danger, the offense; to take on those that might be seeking to perpetuate armed attacks in the city.
They will be headquartered on Randall’s Island, which gives immediate access to the Triboro Bridge Complex which provides quick entry to three boroughs and from there into the other two.”
And he continued: “When dealing with these terrorists, that it’s all about: kill. It’s not about negotiate and if it’s about negotiate, it’s only to buy time to attract even more media exposure or to potentially distract from other activities that they might be seeking to engage in. So, at all costs, our first obligation, our first response is to save as many lives as possible, diminish the threat, which means taking them out before they can kill others.”
“And we’ll try to learn from the Paris experience.
What was the communication system they were utilizing? The concern is, one that there appeared to have been no detection of this attack on the part of the French intelligence, which is one of the best intelligence services in the world. So that gives one indication that somehow or another, they were able to operate in the dark. What type of devices were they using for communication? What type of smartphone, what types of apps, possibly, on that phone? Many apps are out there now that encrypted messages instantly” Bratton said.
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All photos © h. nazan ışık 2015, / NKENdiKEN All rights resserved