NYPD cops were put on high alert Saturday night after ISIS released a propaganda video urging the killing of "intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers, and civilians" in the US, according to The NY Post [8]. This was then further fear-mongered by Senator Diane Feinstein who said Sunday she believes there are terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. that could carry out attacks similar to the ones in France - thoiugh not mentioning any specific threats. Of course, this heightened terror alert comes at the worst possible time, as AP confirms [9]what we discussed previously, that NYC has seen a steep decline in the number of arrests amid a rumored work slowdown by NYPD cops on the heels of disillusionment with de Blasio.
As The NY Post reports, [8] NYPD cops were put on high alert Saturday night after ISIS released a propaganda video urging the killing of “intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers, and civilians” in the US.
“Strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents,” the vile video, released on Twitter by ISIS spokesman Abu Mohammad Al-Adnani, urges.
“If you are assigned to a fixed post, do not sit together in the RMP [police car],” members of the Sergeants Benevolent Association were instructed in an e-mail obtained by The Post.
“At least one officer must stand outside the vehicle at all times. Pay attention to your surroundings. Officers must pay close attention to approaching vehicles . . . Pay close attention to people as they approach. Look for their hands.”
Heightening the tension was last week’s terror attack in Paris, in which two of the 17 people killed were police officers.
And Diane Feinstein further reinforces, (as The Washington Times reports [10]) saying Sunday she believes there are terrorist sleeper cells in the U.S. that could carry out attacks similar to the ones in France that left 17 people dead last week.
Sen Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and vice chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, did not comment on specific threats against America but said other attacks are possible.
“I think there are sleeper cells not only in France but certainly in other countries and, yes, in our own,” she said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “This calls for vigilance. … Hopefully, we can be even more active in terms of doing those things which enable us to find terrorists, see who they’re communicating with and to track that.”
Ms. Feinstein’s words come the same day a new Rasmussen poll shows that 65 percent of Americans believe terrorist attacks similar to those seen in France last week are likely to happen over the next 12 months.
But administration officials say there is no information on specific plots or sleeper cells.
“I don’t think that we have any information that would indicate, certainly with regard to the homeland, that there is any ongoing threat or any threat that was activated by what we see so tragically here in France,” Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said on ABC’s “This Week” program on Sunday. “With regard to sleeper cells here in France, that is an investigation that’s ongoing and being conducted by our French allies.”
Of course the timing is dreadful given the apparent work slowdown by NYPD cops (via AP), [9]
Despite efforts by New York City officials to tout a dip in serious crime, another statistic is getting more attention — a steep decline in the number of arrests across all five boroughs in the two weeks since two police officers were shot dead in their patrol car.
The totals suggest that a rumored work slowdown has taken hold amid discord between the rank and file and Mayor Bill de Blasio, and raise questions about what impact it could have on the city's crime rate.
Patrick Lynch, head of the powerful Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, insisted Tuesday that the union was not sanctioning a labor action. He pointed to a shootout during an armed holdup late Monday that left two plainclothes officers wounded as proof that it was business as usual at the nation's largest police department.
Officers, who are working without a contract, are "putting themselves in danger to keep this city safe just as they always do," Lynch said.
But the enforcement statistics strongly indicate that the slowdown is real, even if it was initiated at the grassroots level.
Last week, the number of summonses for minor criminal offenses and traffic and parking violations decreased by more than 90 percent compared with the same week a year earlier, statistics show. For example, summonses for urinating in public were down to 347 from more than 4,077 last year.
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"If the law is not being enforced in the street, we're all in danger," Reppetto said. "The criminals take their cue and run wild."
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