Ahead of Sunday’s TCS NYC Marathon, NYPD brass said on Wednesday that the department would step up security around the city to keep all participants safe.
Standing in Central Park, top police officials declared that law enforcement presence will be ramped up across land, sea, and air over the weekend as locals and travelers alike are set to run the 26.2-mile route through Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, and the Bronx. Police say they will take extra precautions throughout the event, including putting a uniformed presence on every corner of the route.
“A heavy uniform presence will be along each corner of the route. You will see our aviation units in the air, our counter-terrorism assets, our traffic agents from transportation, health and traffic, our mounted, our canine, block of vehicles, and many more,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said. “The NYPD and responders will be on full display.”
Last year’s marathon took place just one month after the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel, which led to a significant overhaul of law enforcement precautions for the marathon. A year later, NYPD executives said that the department would keep up its efforts as the turmoil continues in the Middle East.
“Last year, when we were here, we talked about securing this event in light of everything going on around the world, instability, turmoil — war. The security picture last year was complex, this year it is perhaps even more so,” NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Intelligence and Counterterrorism Rebecca Weiner said. “We’ve had our own marathon of sorts of event after event after event that are taking place against a backdrop of attacks overseas, a widening and deepening war in the Middle East, polarization, and political violence.”
While officials say the public can expect to see a host of different emergency services on the scene starting Saturday and running through Sunday, they will also be mixed in with plainclothes cops and other resources not intended to be seen. Even so, the NYPD is asking the public to stay vigilant and report anything suspicious immediately.
“The New York City Marathon is one of the best days of the year, there isn’t really anything like it,” NYPD Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon said. “On behalf of the entire New York City Police Department, good luck to all the runners.”
