Mayor Bill de Blasio and Police Commissioner Bill Bratton at an event for the TCS New York City Marathon at the Javits Center on Oct. 30, 2014. (credit: Juliet Papa/1010WINS)
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) — Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said there are no credible threats against this weekend’s TCS New York City Marathon, but the NYPD is remaining vigilant.
“We have kept that same level of security and then some,” Bratton said Thursday. “This year, it’s been contemporized — things that we’ve learned, skills that we’ve acquired.”
Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a news conference Thursday that he and Bratton attended a meeting the day before that included various city agencies and the FBI to go over preparations.
Counter-terrorism Deputy Chief James Waters said participants will be screened near the starting line.
“All the runners will go through magnetometers and be searched,” he said. “There will be no backpacks inside the fort.”
In addition, there will be helicopters, 20 police boats and thousands of cops on the ground, WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell reported.
“We have over 4,000 officers that will be involved in primary security for that event. We’ll have four of our airships up and 20 of our vessels in the waters. As you know, we have an extraordinary counter-terrorism capability,” Bratton said.
Other security measures will include cameras that take 360-degree pictures, and cameras on helicopters that can take pictures of suspicious packages and activity on the ground. The NYPD will also use radiation-detection technology on land and on the water, since the marathon takes runners over several bridges, CBS 2’s Marcia Kramer reported.
Undercover police, bomb-sniffing dogs and security cameras will also be placed along the route, 1010 WINS’ Juliet Papa reported.
“There’s an awful lot of what goes on in this event that you will see, but an awful lot that you don’t see behind the scenes,” Bratton said.
Last year, barriers were erected around Central Park, where the race ends. Spectators could enter only through a few designated checkpoints where bags were searched.
More than 50,000 runners are expected to take part in Sunday’s race, with millions of spectators lining the route.
Bratton urged all spectators to report anything suspicious — not only a suspicious package, but also if people are overheard talking about violence or making anti-cop and anti-America statements, Kramer reported.
