NEW YORK (Reuters) – New York City activated 500 new subway cameras in heavily traveled stations in response to security threats such as the attempted bombing of Times Square, Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday.
The cameras at the Times Square, Penn Station and Grand Central subway stations marked an expansion of a previously announced programme that aims to increase the number of security cameras in Manhattan to some 3,000 from 1,159.
Those cameras have been largely funded by a $120 million grant from the US Department of Homeland Security. In addition, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority has activated 1,400 cameras of its own in the past six months.
New York City has been attacked twice — in a 1993 truck bombing of the World Trade Center and the suicide hijacking attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then another 11 plots against the city have been thwarted, police said.
On May 1, a Pakistani-born American citizen parked a truck filled with fuel and fireworks in Times Square, attempting to set off an explosion. Faisal Shahzad pleaded guilty to the crime and faces mandatory life in prison.
A year ago, an Afghani immigrant was arrested on charges of plotting a suicide bomb attack on New York City subways. Najibullah Zazi also pleaded guilty.
“The attempted May 1 bombing in Times Square was all the proof we needed that that surveillance in midtown is vital and it was just a year ago this week that Najibullah Zazi was arrested on charges he later pleaded guilty to in federal court in our city,” Bloomberg told reporters.
