Public Intelligence

Last Friday, officials from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) hosted a teleconference with the directors of fusion centers around the country as well as the Major City Intelligence Commanders across to discuss the “heightened tensions in the Middle East due to the on-going military actions between Israel and Hamas.” A bulletin from the New York State Intelligence Center (NYSIC) described the conference call, stating that the DHS and FBI representatives emphasized that there is “currently no credible or specific information suggesting any violent actions in the United States as a result of these tensions” but requested increased vigilance from “law enforcement in regions where Jewish consulates or large Jewish populations exist was encouraged, and law enforcement officials on the teleconference from those areas discussed measures being taken to ensure the safety and security of their local communities, which included increased law enforcement presence, community outreach and encouraging reporting of suspicious activities.”

In order to help ensure public safety and security and to detect, deter, and prevent potential terrorist activities, the New York City Police Department (NYPD) has developed a networked Domain Awareness System. The Domain Awareness System not only supplies critical supplemental assistance to officers’ ongoing security and public safety efforts, but also enhances the collaborative nature of those efforts by leveraging the resources of the private sector and other City agencies. Given the ongoing threat of terrorist attack, the Domain Awareness System is an important part of the NYPD’s integrated approach to providing protection for those who work in, live in, and visit New York City.

Occupy Wall Street (OWS) protesters are calling for a “General Strike” on Tuesday, May 1, urging workers not to go to work and students to boycott classes in protest of what organizers characterize as society’s economic inequality. No unions are expected to participate in the strike, and some have talked to reporters about the fact that they weren’t consulted in OWS’s decision to announce a General Strike. Nonetheless, some elements of organized labor are expected to participate in their own customary May Day rally (which has occurred since 2004), marching from Union Square to Foley Square to Bowling Green, with speeches at either end beginning at about 4:00pm and ending by 7:00pm. The union organizers involved in that march have sought a permit for it. Details are being worked out.

This brief report was put together by the NYPD Citizen Complaint Review Board in 2002 in response to citizen complaints about officers failing to identify themselves. The report includes a 2003 update to the NYPD Patrol Guide that clearly states that officers are required to “courteously” state their rank, name, badge number and command when asked by any citizen while giving them sufficient time to write down this information.

First-time applicants should contact the Press Credentials office (above) before completing their application. Applicants must be a member of the media who covers, in person, emergency, spot or breaking news events and/or public events of a non-emergency nature, where police, fire lines or other restrictions, limitations, or barriers established by the City of New York have been set up for security or crowd control purposes, within the City of New York; or covers, in person, events sponsored by the City of New York which are open to members of the press.

For generations, immigrants have shed their ancestral identities and taken new, Americanized names as they found their place in the melting pot. For Muslims in New York, that rite of assimilation is now seen by police as a possible red flag in the hunt for terrorists. The New York Police Department monitors everyone in the city who changes his or her name, according to interviews and internal police documents obtained by The Associated Press. For those whose names sound Arabic or might be from Muslim countries, police run comprehensive background checks that include reviewing travel records, criminal histories, business licenses and immigration documents. All this is recorded in police databases for supervisors, who review the names and select a handful of people for police to visit.

A corrupt ex-undercover cop says NYPD supervisors paid detectives extra overtime for hard-drug busts, creating a covert reward system for cocaine and heroin arrests. Undercovers taking down smack or crack suspects routinely got two or three hours of overtime as payback, ex-cop Stephen Anderson testified in a Brooklyn courtroom. “So giving you overtime for a crack cocaine arrest is a reward for the nature of the crime … would that be a fair statement?” asked Justice Gustin Reichbach. “Yes, that’s fair to say,” Anderson testified last week at the corruption trial of Brooklyn South narcotics Detective Jason Arbeeny.

As you know, for over three weeks, Zuccotti Park (the “Park”) has been used by “Occupy Wall Street” and other protesters as their home base. The Park is owned by a Brookfield affiliate and was recently renovated at Brookfield’s considerable expense as an amenity for the general public. It is intended to be a relaxing tree-filled oasis in the midst of the hustle and bustle of Lower Manhattan. We fully support the rights of free speech and assembly, but the manner in which the protesters are occupying the Park violates the law, violates the rules of the Park, deprives the community of its rights of quiet enjoyment to the Park, and creates health and public safety issues that need to be addressed immediately. Within the Park, the protesters have set up living spaces with tarpaulins, mattresses, sleeping bags, tables, bookshelves, gasoline-powered generators and other items that arc inconsistent with the rules and normal public use of the Park. At all hours of the day and night, protesters arc sleeping on benches and walkways, blocking normal pedestrian access to the general public and preventing cleaning and maintenance workers from performing necessary upkeep. When not blocked by protesters, the walkways throughout the Park are blocked by the various items and equipment brought to the Park by the protesters.

With its whitewashed bell tower, groomed lawns and Georgian-style buildings, Brooklyn College looks like a slice of 18th Century America dropped into modern-day New York City. But for years New York police have feared this bucolic setting might hide a sinister secret: the beginnings of a Muslim terrorist cell. Investigators have been infiltrating Muslim student groups at Brooklyn College and other schools in the city, monitoring their Internet activity and placing undercover agents in their ranks, police documents obtained by The Associated Press show. Legal experts say the operation may have broken a 19-year-old pact with the colleges and violated U.S. privacy laws, jeopardizing millions of dollars in federal research money and student aid. The infiltration was part of a secret NYPD intelligence-gathering effort that put entire Muslim communities under scrutiny. Police photographed restaurants and grocery stores that cater to Muslims and built databases showing where people shopped, got their hair cut and prayed. The AP reported on the secret campaign in a series of stories beginning in August.

These photos and videos depict a New York Police Department Lieutenant named Connolly striking protesters blindly with a baton.  This man has been identified as Lt. Brian Connolly of the 9th Precinct, who was awarded the Medal for Valor in 2007.
UPDATE: October 9, 2011
We have received a number of complaints via email and in the [...]

An unusual 2009 bulletin produced by the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center warns members of the law enforcement community not to engage in “questionable” online activities, particularly through social media such as Facebook and MySpace. Using several examples of law enforcement officers showing “poor judgment” in their online postings, the For Official Use Only bulletin titled “The Perils of Social Networking” demonstrates how the inconsiderate and sometimes disturbing posts of police officers have been used in the past for “witness impeachment” in legal proceedings by attacking the officer’s credibility. These activities have sometimes led to the acquittal of suspects in what are described as “slam-dunk” cases.

Active shooter attacks are dynamic incidents that vary greatly from one attack to another. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) defines an active shooter as “an individual actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a confined and populated area.” In its definition, DHS notes that, “in most cases, active shooters use firearms(s) and there is no pattern or method to their selection of victims.” The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has limited this definition to include only those cases that spill beyond an intended victim to others.

Thornton was called in by his employer and shown video surveillance footage of him stealing beer from the facility. After calmly signing a letter of resignation, and not contesting the accusations against him, Thornton opened fire on coworkers at the facility for a period spanning only minutes. One witness suspected that Thornton was carrying a weapon in the lunch bag he brought to work.

NYPD Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat from August 13, 2007.

Overview
•At approximately 4 pm, local time, a female shooter opened fire on the campus of University Alabama-Huntsville
-The shooter was a female member of the university faculty
-The attack occurred at a biology faculty meeting
•Reports indicate 3 people were killed and 3 wounded
-2 male victims are in critical condition
-1 female victim is in stable condition
•The female suspect was arrested and her husband is detained
•Shooting occurred in the Shelby Center, a 200,000-square-foot science facility on the university campus
•Motive: the female opened fire when she learned she would not get a tenure faculty position as a full-time biology professor

Summary
•On 5/27/09 at least four gunmen opened fire and set off of a car bomb between police and intelligence buildings in Lahore, Pakistan.
•Latest reports indicate that at least 23 people are dead, and hundreds wounded.
•Two suspects were taken into custody, but were later released.
•There have been no claims of responsibility, but the attack is assessed to be a response to the Pakistani army’s offensive in the Swat Valley.

This book is a compilation of various gang intelligence information from various sources including detective and police officer files, primarily confiscated from arrested and/or incarcerated individual gang notes and drawings. Additional material was obtained from other law enforcement agencies’ publications and presentations used for internal officer training, as well as from various other gang publications and internet sources. Six major New York City gangs are presented in this book: the Bloods, the Almighty Latin King and Queen Nation, the Netas, the Crips, Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and the Mexican Gangs. Sections within this book include the origin and history of the gang, its structure, rules and regulations, oaths and pledges, symbols and emblems, coded language and hand signals, clothing, tattoos and graffiti. It is our hope that an officer’s knowledge of gang characteristics will assist in combating gang-motivated crimes and reduce the propensity for violence towards the law enforcement community and innocent citizens.

On the evening of November 26, 2008, ten (10) terrorists executed multiple coordinated attacks using automatic weapons and hand grenades on various “soft targets”, such as hotels and restaurants, in Mumbai, India. The operational modus operandi of this terrorist attack constitutes a major shift in the traditional terrorist tactics of using suicide operatives and planted explosive devices, to the execution of a well planned “commando” type military assault using automatic weapons, hand grenades and urban combat tactics, intended to inflict the maximum number of casualties.

Summary
•The U.S. Embassy in Yemen was attacked on the morning of September 17th, 2008
•Six attackers in two vehicles, both of which were VBIEDs, attacked the front gate of the embassy
•The attack resulted in 16 deaths, a toll that includes all six attackers
•No Americans were killed, and there was no reported damage to the embassy buildings
•A group calling itself Islamic Jihad in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attack
•This is the largest attack in Yemen in the last few years, as al-Qaeda is reportedly undergoing a resurgence in that country

This paper analyzes three high-profile European case studies of post-9/11 terrorist attacks (Istanbul [2003], Madrid [2004], and London [2005]). It also examines targeting and tactical information gleaned from several failed/foiled plots in Europe. Although the general findings of this paper can be applied to any type of large scale terrorist attack, this study focuses on those attacks perpetrated by Muslim extremists since this subset currently constitutes the most prominent terrorist threat to the U.S.

Police acting without the FBI’s knowledge may have inadvertently helped blow the surveillance of a terrorism suspect and compromised a bomb plot investigation at a sensitive stage by questioning an imam about him, a criminal complaint suggests. “They came to ask me about your characters,” the Muslim religious leader, Ahmad Wais Afzali, told Najibullah Zazi in a secretly recorded Sept. 11 telephone conversation. “They asked me about you guys.”