New York City police are on high alert following the terror attacks in Paris, and a leaked memo indicates that officers have been told to stay in their patrol cars when possible and watch passersby closely for signs of aggression.
“Pay close attention to people as they approach you,” the memo read, Fox News reported. “Look for their hands.”
The threat is not only due to the Paris terror attacks that left more than a dozen dead, but also due to the re-release of a September 2014 message that tells Islamic State supporters to “rise up and kill intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers and civilians,” CNN reported.
John Miller, the New York Police Department deputy-commissioner for counterterrorism, tried to play down the threat. He said during an interview on “Face the Nation” on CBS that the department was on a “heightened security posture on a normal day compared to almost any other police department” and that he didn’t think “we are under any more threat … or any less threat than we were the day before.”
But the FBI and U.S. Department of Homeland Security said law enforcement across the country have been given similar high-alert warnings. The feds said this latest warning is consistent with other threats from the Islamic State and al Qaeda, CNN reported.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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