Assuming that al Qaeda and its "sympathizers" are constantly plotting against us

therefore, we are ALL under suspicion at ALL times...


A heavily armed Hercules team makes a show of
force outside a midtown Manhattan office building

it's absolutely amazing just how fast we're moving to out-and-out fascism... (but it's all for our SAFETY, dontcha know...)

No one sees them coming. There are no flashing lights, no sirens. The black Suburban simply glides out of Fifth Avenue traffic and pulls into a no-parking zone in front of the Empire State Building. Moments later, four men spill out in combat helmets and heavy body armor: Two carry submachine guns; the others, snub-nosed shotguns.

Camera-toting tourists stop jabbering and stare at this intimidating new presence, their faces a mixture of curiosity and fear. Even jaded New Yorkers, many of whom work inside the midtown Manhattan landmark, look impressed.

A stone's throw down the sidewalk, Abad Nieves watches the scene unfold. Nieves is a detective with the Intelligence Division of the New York Police Department (NYPD). Casually clad in slacks and a black leather jacket, he monitors the response of people loitering in the area. Is anyone making notes or videotaping? Does anyone seem especially startled by the out-of-the-blue appearance of a heavily armed NYPD squad?

On this day, Nieves doesn't see anything overly suspicious, but he is pleased that the deployment created a strong impression. Known as a Hercules team, it makes multiple appearances around the city each day. The locations are chosen either in response to specific intelligence or simply to provide a show of force at high-profile sites.

"The response we usually get is, 'Holy s---!'" Nieves says. "That's the reaction we want. We are in the business of scaring people--we just want to scare the right people."

[...]

"Clearly, New York is way in front on this," says Brian Michael Jenkins, a terrorism expert with the Rand Corp. "As the threat gets more diffused, we are going to have less of the kind of intelligence that can be picked up by the feds. We are dealing now with threats that are deliberately operating under the radar. Therefore, we have to aim the radar lower, to the local level."

Although there have been no attacks in New York since 9/11, police officials work under the assumption that Al Qaeda and its sympathizers are constantly plotting against the city.

ah, yes... it's all so terribly LOGICAL... bring it on, and we'll BEG for more...

a commenter to the article...

#27 Its called PROACTIVE police work! I don't understand how some people think, when something bad happens and the police show up they get blamed for not being able to prevent it. When the police become proactive and prevent crimes from happening they receive even more negative criticism (we will never really know how many crimes police officers prevent by them simply being more visible to the general public). In case people forgot New York was ATTACKED on 09/11/01, you think the NYPD wants to relive that again! The police are referred to as our nation's first line of defense for a reason, thats because their job is to protect us from any threat. IF they don't neutralize that threat then history will repeat itself and I'm not talking about the police turning into Nazi Germany. Sometimes you have to think outside the box, great job NYPD and keep up the good work!

yep, yep, yep... keep it comin'...!

(thanks to kevin at cryptogon...)

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