The NYPD is capable of shooting down planes, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly revealed on “60 Minutes” Sunday night.
Kelly told interviewer Scott Pelley that “in a very extreme situation” the NYPD could take down an airplane. He described a .50 caliber rifle that can be attached to a police helicopter and used to fire at oncoming aircraft.
The weapon could blow through a brick wall, according to the New York Post.
But Mayor Michael Bloomberg said yesterday that even a weapon that powerful could not have prevented the Sept. 11 terror attacks. “It certainly does not mean 9/11 wouldn’t have occurred,” Bloomberg said at a Midtown press conference.
He added that the NYPD “has lots of capabilities you don’t know about, and you won’t know about them.”
Extra eyes
Kelly also detailed about 2,000 cameras deployed throughout Lower Manhattan. The cameras are intended to record suspicious behavior or catch people leaving packages, whether harmless or intended for terror. “We’re a city that’s been attacked twice successfully,” he said. “No other city has had that.”
Follow Alison Bowen on Twitter @AlisonatMetro.
