As world leaders prepare to descend on Midtown for the United Nations General Assembly, the NYPD Bomb Squad is deploying explosive-detection dogs and robotic technology to help keep dignitaries and New Yorkers alike safe.
In the coming days, dignitaries from around the globe are expected to gather in Midtown, bringing traffic to a crawl and putting the NYPD and other law enforcement agencies on high alert. According to the department, the NYPD Bomb Squad will be stationed near the United Nations to conduct security screenings and provide rapid response to potential threats.
“We’re staged for the duration of this event. We’ll be screening any delivery vehicles coming in. We’re responding to any sort of incidents that may happen in this area involving any sort of explosives,” NYPD Bomb Squad Commanding Officer Daniel O’Grady told amNewYork.
“We’ll be working in close cooperation while doing that with the Secret Service and the FBI, and then we’re also handling anything that happens citywide,” he added.
The Bomb Squad won’t be relying solely on its human officers. To help maintain security, the unit will also deploy explosive-detection canines and robotic technology.
The dogs will be used to screen vehicles and sweep motorcades, while robots will be deployed to inspect suspicious devices. O’Grady told amNewYork that the canines have become an increasingly important part of the unit’s operations since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“The dogs are fundamental to our operations. Our canines are explosive detection canines; they are exclusively used for that purpose, so they don’t do any other sort of purpose, like patrol, or bloodhounds would follow a scent for narcotics. They only do explosives,” O’Grady said.
“We’ve been using canines for quite a long time. However, their use has expanded dramatically, exponentially over the last 20 years,” he added.
When a potential explosive threat is identified, officers can deploy unmanned robots to inspect suspicious devices from a safe distance.
While the technology has been used for decades, O’Grady said robots have become an essential part of the bomb squad’s response capabilities, allowing officers to investigate potential threats without putting themselves directly in harm’s way.
“They’ve become ubiquitous. Now they’re a standard part of any kind of response that we have,” O’Grady said.
“They’re very important in our responses because, needless to say, if there’s a robot downrange handling something, it means that an officer doesn’t have to be down there, which is great. The more time, distance, and shielding I can give my guys, the better I sleep at night,” he added.
