Scuba Divers to Monitor NYC Marathon

Photo Credit: Richard Drew/APSunday’s New York City Marathon will be the best-protected race that runners can enter as a result of enhanced security measures and police presence on land and by sea, according to New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. Helicopters, scuba divers, police boats, K-9 dogs with explosive-detection capabilities and hundreds of cameras are among the precautionary measures that will be deployed along the marathon route and throughout the city’s five boroughs.

Kelly said that while security planning for the event typically takes several months, the New York Police Department began preparing for this year’s marathon the day after the Boston Marathon bombing in April, which killed three people and wounded more than 260 others.

“Planning for the marathon is always a major undertaking and I can assure you this year was no exception,” Kelly said Friday at a security briefing on the marathon, which is expected to draw more than 45,000 runners.

Hundreds of cameras will be monitored in real-time by the NYPD’s Domain Awareness System, he said. The department has also located more than 1, 400 privately owned cameras along the 26.2-mile route that can be tapped for additional security footage if necessary.

NYPD scuba divers began sweeping the shoreline and surrounding infrastructure on Thursday “to safeguard all five bridges that the runners will cross on their way ultimately to Manhattan,” Kelly said.

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