The NYPD is on alert today, prepared for potential threats on the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is leading the security measures around the city. He joins Zoraida Sambolin on “Early Start” this morning from the World Trade Center memorial site with more details.
“There are no credible threats today,” Kelly says. “We have done an awful lot in this city to protect ourselves from another terrorist attack. We have invested a lot of effort, a lot of time, but there are no guarantees,” he says. Over 200 specially trained officers are standing ground at the memorial and the surrounding area. “I think we are safer now certainly than we have ever been, but, as I say, we’re certainly not taking anything for granted,” Kelly says.
Kelly says social media is integrated in this year’s tribute. The NYPD’s Facebook page and Twitter have memorials to officers whose lives were lost in 9/11. Kelly says 23 police officers were lost that day, and “an additional 52 members of the department, who have succumbed to illnesses that they contracted in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, either working at Ground Zero or at the landfill at Staten Island.” “We are tweeting each name and short statement about each officer and you can see the entire package on our Facebook page,” he says. “We thought it was another way to make certain that we certainly never forget their sacrifice.”
Kelly also remarks on federal health authorities adding 58 types of cancers covered by the Zadroga Act for people exposed to toxins at Ground Zero. “It’s certainly major move in the right direction,” he says. “Whether or not it’s enough, I think, remains to be seen.