Mayor Michael Bloomberg will examine London's much ballyhooed "Ring of Steel" security network Tuesday—10 days after the failed car bomb plot in Times Square—to help determine how New York City can best improve its counter-terrorism efforts.
The "Ring of Steel," a network of thousands of surveillance cameras that is designed to identify, monitor and deter terrorists, has been credited with providing British law-enforcement officials with invaluable evidence in major investigations, such as license plate numbers and suspects' images.
New York officials plan to bolster the "Lower Manhattan Security Initiative," which is modeled after London's program, and expand it to Midtown.
This expanded network of closed-circuit cameras, license-plate readers and sensors will increase our ability to detect and disrupt possible attacks in real time, and also provide us with more information more quickly about such incidents," Mr. Bloomberg said Sunday during his weekly radio address.
Since Mr. Bloomberg became mayor in 2002, less than four months after terrorists toppled the World Trade Center, the police and fire departments and the city's Office of Emergency Management, have beefed up their counter-terror capabilities.
Still, the mayor declared on Sunday: "There's even more we can and must do."
In Lower Manhattan between Canal Street and the Battery, river to river, feeds from cameras, license-plate readers and radiation sensors flow to a coordination center that is staffed with officials looking for potential terrorist activities.
An alarm sounds if, for example, a package is left unattended for more than a minute at a building entrance, or the same truck circles a location for the third time.
Within the next few years, the city intends to have 3,000 cameras feeding into the coordination center. As of now, there are hundreds.
Mr. Bloomberg is aiming to duplicate the system in Midtown between 34th and 59th streets.
Aides at City Hall said the mayor wants to visit London's "Ring of Streel" to learn what has worked best. He plans to pay particular attention to security in London's subway system. In New York City, the NYPD is responsible for security in the city's subways.
Last week, the mayor and the police commissioner, Ray Kelly, lobbied Congress to fund the project. Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have also been calling on the federal government to increase security funding to the city. "There is nothing more important than keeping New Yorkers safe from an attack," Mr. Schumer said.
Mr. Bloomberg will stop in London Tuesday as he makes his way to Berlin, where he will receive the Henry A. Kissinger Prize for his contributions to building a stronger transatlantic relationship.
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