NYPD chief: Police could take down plane if needed

NEW YORK (AP) -- The chief of the New York Police Department says city police could take down a plane if necessary.

Commissioner Ray Kelly tells CBS' "60 Minutes" that after the Sept. 11 attacks, he decided the city couldn't rely on the federal government alone. He set about creating the NYPD's own counter-terrorism unit. He says the department is prepared for multiple scenarios and could even take down a plane.

Kelly didn't divulge details but said "obviously this would be in a very extreme situation."

Other measures include sending NYPD officers abroad, using radiation detectors and creating a network of surveillance cameras in Manhattan.

The interview airs Sunday evening. It comes two weeks after the tenth anniversary of 9/11, when hijackers flew planes into the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

You're kidding, right? Both of you?

The AA guns aren't likely do do any better than the Stinger, especially since the big-caliber guns that would really do a good job were high-altitude weapons, slow firing, and aren't likely to do well against a fast-moving target low enough to slam into the city. The small-caliber guns aren't likely to do much useful to an airliner bent on crashing, and have shorter effective ranges and far less effective guidance than a Stinger, and therefore will have a hard time obtaining hits. There's also the matter of carriage; unless they plan on sighting the damn things all around the city, how will it be in position in time to stop an airliner attack? Is the NYPD seriously going to pay people to man fixed AA guns to defend from airliner attack?

As for the fighter jet, if ATC or NORAD could guide the fighter to the correct airliner, that's actually feasible, especially if it could be undentified over less-populated areas... but then why exactly is the Air Force not doing this, especially now that 9/11 is passed and the scenario has at least occurred to air-defense planners?

There's also the problem of keeping one or two aging jet fighters in a good state of repair, and training and paying the pilots to sit around the airport ready to scramble in case of a 9-11 repeat. This sounds expensive, at best, and frankly I just don't see the FAA or the Air Force going for it.

DE, we are talking about NYC. All of the above options make about as much sense as swimming with a pocket full of bricks but they still went ahead and picked one of them (WWII AA guns, a fighter or some sort of SAM system). Unless they have some dude with a pocket laser pointer sitting on a skyscraper waiting to shine it at cockpits.

I realize that, but the fact of the matter is that either obsolete AA guns or an obsolete jet fighter are wildly less practical than a Stinger. Even the sort of idiot who thinks this is a good idea can see that it's far less costly to buy a few shoulder-launchers for Stingers.

DE, Feinstein held an AK clone with the clumsy drum mag on it in front of a group of people saying how this weapon could kill 90 people in this room.

With a 75 round drum mag...
With her finger resting on the gorram trigger...

I mean the idiots enacted all that gun control about pinned magazines in rifles etc after the famous shootout with the robbers in body armor - not noting that the robbers DROPPED weapons rather than reload.

In short- that that level of liberalism, they just want as many restrictions as possible, damn the concequences.

They should just hire a person to stand on every building 20 floors or more with a stinger to effectively protect the city.

There - problem solved.

Apparently the anti-aircraft system they have is a sniper in a chopper with a .50 cal.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09 ... t-exactly/

Apparently the anti-aircraft system they have is a sniper in a chopper with a .50 cal.

http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2011/09 ... t-exactly/

I hope they have some damn fine snipers if they plan on that method.