Pope Francis, We’ve Got You Surrounded
The papal visit has spawned the largest security detail the NYPD has ever deployed.
The Pope is coming to town. Also, the United Nations General Assembly is in session. Act accordingly.
If you’re NYPD Commissioner William Bratton, that means mobilizing 1,173 additional vehicles and 6,000 additional officers to ensure Pope Francis, 170 delegates and President Obama remain safe during their Times Square sojourns to see the Naked Cowboy.
In addition, the NYPD will be diverting traffic patterns using 800 tons of concrete barriers, 39 miles of metal fencing and a fleet of NYC Sanitation dump trucks filled with sand, all with an eye toward mitigating any potential risks to the VIPs. When all is said and done, this will be the largest security detail the NYPD, the largest police department in the country, has ever assembled.
For more on the papal visit, visit our colleagues at Time.