While all the world grieves the deaths of Israeli and Cuban- American citizens, NYC has become the "protest central" as the the headquarters of the organizations that are the focus of demonstrations as a result of the two incidents. Both are located in the heart of Manhattan.
The NYPD, understandably, is reluctant to talk about security at locations that are considered hotspots due to world problems. But a brief observation will show that the Department was fortunate this past weekend, with demonstration participants at a minimum.
The main demonstration at the headquarters of the Palestine Observer to the United Nations, at 115 East 65 St., had a vocal, yet controlled group, letting the Palestinian Representative know how they feel about the deaths that have occurred in Jerusalem over the past two weekends. The NYPD provided a detail from the Manhattan North Task Force to maintain the peace and control the crowds, as necessary.
However, the Manhattan South Task Force (the boundary being East and West 59 Street) is traditionally the busier of the two task forces, and this past Sunday MSTF was required at both the Israeli Consulate to the UN, at 2nd Ave. and E. 42 St., and the Cuban Consulate, at Lexington Ave. and East 38 Street. Fortunately, at both locations, the crowds were small and a minimal number of officers were used, one sergeant and 10 officers at each.
Under Commissioner William Bratton, 'Mobilization Drills" take place often at location and areas of NYC. These drills are spontaneous responses by the Task Forces in each Borough, with certain extra specialized units. The mobilization procedures have three levels of urgency, in which a first-line patrol supervisor can request Task Force personnel, depending on what is needed at a particular time at a location. This is similar to the extra alarms that are transmitted in a fire department operation.
Officers assigned to the eight Borough Task Forces (three of the five boroughs have "north" and "south" commands) have said off the record that a "busy summer" is expected if world conditions do not improve over the next three or four months. But they do not expect a large number of localized street disturbances, which can run the ranks of the Task Forces thin on a day to day basis.
(c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1996, All rights Reserved.