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Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Friday, April 18, 2008

Tight security planned for pope’s New York visit

By Michael Frazier, Newsday

NEW YORK — The bulletproof pope mobile is only part of a massive security plan staged for the New York arrival of Pope Benedict XVI, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said Thursday.

Without divulging specific details, Kelly said measures to protect the pope will resemble those used for presidential visits and the United Nations General Assembly.

“We will provide the highest possible level of security while accommodating the public in welcoming the pontiff,” Kelly said in a news conference at police headquarters in Manhattan. He was joined by Brian Parr, U.S. Secret Service special agent in charge in New York.

Parr said the plan to protect the pope, who will be in New York from April 18 to April 20, began in October.

The strategy includes several thousand uniformed officers, undercover officers, bomb-sniffing dogs and mounted patrols.

Police helicopters, boats and scuba divers also will be deployed as well as special counterterrorism tactics using radiation detection.

There also will be flight restrictions during the pope’s planned visits to the United Nations, Yankee Stadium and Ground Zero.

“While we are not aware of any specific threats to the pope, we are obviously cognizant of the fact that Osama bin Laden in his latest videotape was critical of the pope,” Kelly said.

Kelly and Parr said the critical video released last month didn’t prompt any changes to the security plan.

Pope Benedict is scheduled to arrive at Kennedy Airport about 9:45 a.m. April 18 after first visiting Washington, D.C. He is scheduled to address the United Nations an hour later.

The following day, Benedict will ride inside the enclosed pope mobile about 22 blocks along Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick’s Cathedral north to 72nd Street, Kelly said.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg will greet Pope Benedict at the airport. He also is expected to attend the pope’s visit to Ground Zero and Mass at Yankee Stadium on April 20.

Bloomberg said his office has worked extensively with that of New York Cardinal Edward M. Egan “to make sure the pope’s trip here is a trip where as many people get a chance to see and listen to the pope and express their admiration or displeasure, I guess, if they want to protest.