NYPD Boosts Detectives to Track Terror Leads
(CNN) — The New York Police Department is boosting the number of detectives assigned to its Leads unit, which is charged with investigating the flood of suspicious incident reports in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.
NYPD officials say the detectives will help deal with the dozens of reports that are pouring in, which are currently 200% the volume of a normal week. Some are called into the toll-free number 888-NYC-SAFE, some come in to 911, and others are flagged by keyword searches on social media and Internet forums. Just this week, the New York State Police launched a new smartphone app called “See Something, Send Something” that allows people to send in photos of suspicious activity that will be investigated by the appropriate authority, including the NYPD.
The NYPD unit tracks each and every one, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The tips “could be or could not be crimes,” Thomas Galati, NYPD assistant chief for counterterrorism and intelligence, told CNN. He adds that they range widely, from men seen abandoning a car on the Brooklyn Bridge to someone posting a video showing guns with the hashtag for September’s papal visit.
Read the article “NYPD Boosts Detectives to Track Terror Leads” on cnn.com.
