More cops than usual will safeguard the July 4 fireworks celebration but NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch Wednesday says the NYPD still needs authorization to take down “nefarious drones.”
The nation’s largest police department, which has numerous drones and can detect drones, has for several years backed proposed legislation that would allow it to electronically jam and disable drones seen as threats to public safety.
Currently, only the feds can take down a drone electronically — and on Friday the FBI will be on hand to work alongside police as intelligence streams are monitored for indications of suspicious drones.
But Tisch noted that “things come up all the time in New York City … every day and so we really need to be able to be nimble and have the authority to do drone mitigation ourselves.”
“As we’ve seen in Ukraine, the Middle East and even along our border the threats posed by weaponized drones is real and growing,” she added.
Thus far, there are no known credible threats to the fireworks celebration, but there will be more cops than usual in part because of recently developments overseas, most notably the U.S. bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security this week warned of the possibility of lone wolf attacks by homegrown extremists.
“We are concerned about the potential threat of copycat attacks inspired by the 2025 New Year’s Day vehicle-ramming attack in New Orleans and continued messaging [from foreign terrorist organizations] calling for attacks against Western targets,” two such bulletins read.
Officials warn that attackers in New York City and San Francisco could be motivated by a broad-range of grievances, with particular concern over outrage tied to the conflict between Israel and Hamas.
