104 BROOKLYN NEWS WWW.BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
When it comes to the threat of global terrorism, Borough
President Adams’ approach is informed by 22 years
of experience with the New York City Police Department
(NYPD), including service during the two attacks on the
World Trade Center. He also knows, as the representative
of diverse communities, which include many Brooklynites
who have been unfairly profiled, that the borough
must unite as One Brooklyn, a united front dedicated to
defeating global terrorism with common values: vigilance
in protecting families and children from harm, compassion
for the victims of terrorism here and abroad, and
solidarity in our diversity and our shared commitment to
each other.
On the evening of November 13, 2015, after devastating
terrorist attacks in Paris, France killed 130 people, and
left many more severely wounded, Brooklyn mourned
alongside the global community of nations. With the tragedy
having a significant impact on local residents, including
many Franco-Americans, Borough President Adams
organized a candlelight vigil two days later at the World
War I memorial in Carroll Gardens, a symbol of France
and the United States’ enduring friendship, in a neighborhood
popular among French expatriates. In the spirit
of his past community gatherings, which paid tribute to
victims of terrorism in Nigeria, South Carolina, and elsewhere,
this interfaith event also honored the dozens of
people killed by terrorists in a suburb of Beirut, Lebanon
in November, as well as the 147 individuals murdered in
a mass shooting at Garissa University in Kenya last April.
With community leaders and members of the faith
community, Borough President Adams has raised his
voice in support of those battling terror in every part of
the world. “It doesn’t matter where terrorists strike,” he
said. “If it’s in Paris or Park Slope, Budapest or Brownsville,
we all feel it. We all mourn together in one spirit of
humanity.”
In the wake of these acts of terror, Borough President
Adams has worked to strengthen Brooklyn against
potential threats, with a particular focus on so-called
relatively vulnerable “soft targets.” Following the violence
in Charleston, he convened an emergency briefing
with close to 100 clergy members and counterterrorism
experts on safety at local houses of worship, where he
discussed crisis strategies such as creating a notification
system for mobilizing the faith community. After the
incident in Paris, he organized a meeting with NYPD officials
and representatives of dozens of entertainment
venues, such as Brooklyn Bowl in Williamsburg, Dyker
Beach Golf Course in Dyker Heights, and Grand Prospect
Hall in South Slope; Borough President Adams urged the
management of these and other locales to be prepared
for potential attacks by enrolling in NYPD Shield, a counterterrorism
initiative that provides training services for
local businesses, in addition to calling on the City to increase
funding for the program.
“Every business in the city, from the small café to larger
establishments, should have this training,” he said. “All
business plans now must have a component for dealing
with active shootings. People who want to harm innocent
people are no longer looking at large-scale venues. They’re
looking at restaurants, they’re looking at soccer stadiums,
they’re looking at concert halls…we want to harden soft
targets.”
Borough President Adams has been equally vigilant in
showing solidarity when Brooklynites have been unjustly
targeted, including his active opposition to discriminatory
surveillance practices. He has promoted cultural understanding
and outreach to combat extremism and hate proactively
as a key component of his approach to counterterrorism.
When local fears rose following the arrest of three
Uzbek men in the borough last February for their support
of the terrorist organization ISIS, Borough President Adams
stood with ethnic leaders inside the Oasis Café, a popular
cultural site in Sheepshead Bay, to outline joint efforts for
reaching at-risk young people. When a wave of anti-Islamic
rhetoric drove a call for closing mosques in the name of
fighting ISIS last October, he visited the Turkish American
Eyüp Sultan Cultural Center, a mosque in Brighton Beach,
to show solidarity and friendship with Brooklyn’s Muslim
community as well as to highlight the borough’s greater
diversity and combat radicalism citywide.
Borough President Adams has sought to advance
Brooklyn’s security through global partnerships, most
recently highlighted when he led a delegation, including
current and former NYPD officials, to Israel in February,
focused on mutually enhancing public safety. Borough
President Adams has also travelled abroad to share his
message of solidarity with the victims of terrorism, visiting
a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey last December. The trip
furthered his efforts to prevent extremist behavior by supporting
relationships between young people from different
cultures, donating clothes to impacted children and families,
as well as delivering holiday greetings from students
at P.S. 133 William A. Butler in Park Slope.
During the same trip, Borough President Adams delivered
the keynote address at a global tourism conference,
focusing on meeting the challenges of terrorism while
growing the tourism industry and balancing the concerns
of local communities. His remarks noted the importance of
visitors being educated through tourism agencies and parallel
entities on local safety protocols that present critical
challenges to municipal security, such as proper operation
of personal drones and regulations on infrastructure trespassing;
the latter has been a focus of his through a state
legislative effort with State Senator Daniel Squadron and
Assembly Member Joseph Lentol, which would raise the
penalties for trespassing on critical infrastructure like the
Brooklyn Bridge.
“We will not run and hide like some would hope, or
close our borders like other fear mongers might suggest,”
said Borough President Adams. “We will be a city with open
arms and vigilant eyes. Brooklynites, strengthened by our
diversity and committed to a safer world for raising healthy
children and families, stand with all those who are threatened
by the cowardice of terrorism. We are more than One
Brooklyn; we are one world united in the pursuit of peace.”
Countering
Terrorism
in Brooklyn
and Beyond
Photo: Stefan Ringel/Brooklyn BP’s Office
Borough President Adams marched arm-in-arm with fellow Brooklynites on a candlelight walk through
Carroll Gardens with hundreds of concerned residents in response to terror attacks in Paris, as well as
recent terrorism impacting communities around the globe; he carried the American flag alongside the
flags of France, Kenya, and Lebanon to show local solidarity with nations suffering recent tragedies.
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