NYC Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio will inherit NYPD devoted to fighting terrorism
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}FILE- In this Nov. 1, 2013 file photo, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly responds to a question about his department's stop-and-frisk policy, during a news conference at police headquarters, in New York. Kelly, who leaves his post at the end of the year, says the high points of his career are the record crime reductions and the fact the city has avoided another terrorist attack. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File) (The Associated Press)
The new administration of New York City Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio (dih BLAH'-zee-oh) will inherit a police department that's assumed a counterterrorism role never imagined before the Sept. 11 attacks.
The New York Police Department devotes vast resources to analyzing threats and taking security measures in response to them. At a recent briefing, for example, an intelligence analyst revealed that the department has identified New Yorkers who have gone to fight in the civil war in Syria and fears they will come home radicalized against the West.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly has pursued the counterterrorism mission with the staunch support of Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Experts say it's become so institutionalized that the new administration would have trouble dismantling it.