Traffic in the city may help prevent the type of terrorist attack that killed 12 in Berlin on Monday.
John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counterterrorism, said Tuesday the dense traffic makes it harder for attackers to use vehicles as a weapon.
“It’s hard to get up to speed to run anybody over,” he said on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” Tuesday.
Still, Miller said the city has a multi-layered approach to preventing terrorist attacks of all kinds.
While there is no immediate threat to New York City, the NYPD has increased its presence at holiday markets.
Members of the Critical Response Command and other teams have been placed at “high-profile locations,” a spokesman said.
“The NYPD is monitoring the events in Germany and around the world,” a statement said. “In the coming days, we will look to learn more about what occurred to inform the NYPD’s operations, deployments, and training of officers.”
Miller said the NYPD has developed a relationship with the truck rental industry as a result of terrorist groups encouraging lone wolfs to use cars and trucks to carry out attacks. Following the attack in Nice, France, in July, the department worked to increase awareness at truck rental locations, he said.
“One of the second things we did, after the Nice attack, was to go back out to 140 truck rental locations and say here’s some indicators of suspicious behavior, here’s how to get us on our hotline,” he said on “CBS This Morning.”
