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| NYPD Counter Terrorism officer patrols in Times Square in New York |
New York police ramped up security at British sites across the city on Wednesday after an assailant stabbed a policeman outside Britain’s parliament and was then shot by police.
Heavily armed officers and explosives-detecting dogs were deployed to locations including the British Consulate and the British Mission to the United Nations in Manhattan, senior New York Police Department officials said at a news conference.
“You’ll see a larger presence of the dogs at these locations, as well as (officers) armed with the long guns,” said James Waters, the police department’s counterterrorism chief.
Four people died and at least 20 were injured in what British police called a “terrorist incident” that also unfolded on nearby Westminster bridge where witnesses said a car crashed into pedestrians.
New York police previously boosted security at prominent sites around the city after large-scale attacks in Paris, Brussels and San Bernardino, California, out of an abundance of caution, police Commissioner James O’Neill said.
Police are concerned about copycat assailants, but there was no specific threat to New York City on Wednesday, O’Neill said.
Separately, the US Department of Homeland Security said it would lend support to Britain’s investigation of the attack, but that the US. security posture was unchanged.
“We are in close contact with our British counterparts to monitor the tragic events and to support the ongoing investigation,” the department said in a statement.
