Helmets! Machine Guns! Oh My!

By on June 14, 2007 10:23 am in News

Since I went to NYC public high school, nothing… nothing freaks me out. However, one Heights resident was a little freaked out when she noticed machine gun toting, helmet wearing NYPD officers at the High Street station's Cadman Plaza entrance this morning.  As I made my descent into the sweaty subway I overheard her say to the officers, "Helmets? Machine guns? Why?" 

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  • Seems Unusual to Me Too

    …and the answer was…????

  • nabeguy

    That wasn’t the police…it was the DOH going after the coffee wagon by the subway entrance.

  • http://www.havens-of-manhattan.com havensofmanhattan

    Yeah, what was the answer?

  • Homer Fink

    Exactly.

    Appeared to be a routine patrol in the “War on Terror”.

  • nabeguy

    Given that the High St. station is the last one in Brooklyn before the train goes under the river, the NYPD gets a bit jumpy about it. Probably just a routine alert, but alarming nonetheless.

  • yo

    That’s the “Hercules” squad, an anti-terror group of the NYPD. I’ve seen them a bunch of times at various subway stations. Pretty routine….

  • Just me

    Nabeguy — LOLOLOL! Thanks for the great image :)

  • JL

    Agreed, pretty routine. I cross over to NJ everyday on the PATH (WTC to Exchange Place). At least 4 of 5 days each week you see the PA’s “Hercules” team(s) on both sides of the Hudson. Of late, the National Guard is also nearby, decked out in camo and gunnery.

  • No One of Consequence

    At least they’re patrolling the subways with machine guns with the intent of protecting you.

  • http://www.selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    I was “inoculated” for this sort of thing by visiting Spain in 1984, just a couple of years after Generalissimo Francisco Franco became “critically dead.” At the time, the terrorist group ETA was very active, and fatigue-clad Guardia with submachine guns were ubiquitous in public places. Traveling on the highways, we sometimes had to stop at Guardia checkpoints.

    Now, whenever I see a cop in a helmet and flak vest, holding a submachine gun, in a subway station, I’m always tempted to ask him, in Spanish, what’s the stop to get off for the Prado.

  • nabeguy

    Funny you mention Spain. I was there 10 years before you when Franco was still alive, and it was fairly common to see carbineiri’s all over the place. I was staying in a town in Galicia called Sada, which happened to be Franco’s summer residence. Even though it was spring, and he wasn’t there, there were still armed guards stationed every 25 feet outside the 10 foot high stone walls of his compound. Absolute power=Absolute paranoia

  • Seems Unusual to Me Too

    Well.. if they aren’t usually there, it doesn’t seem to me like it was routine. I used to live in DC, and what I found was that when security was increased, there was always a reason. Perhaps they are already starting to deal with security concerns related to the 4th? Whatever it was, I agree that a police presence is generally reassuring.