In a television interview first aired on Sunday, New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly said that his department would have the ability to shoot down a plane if needed.
CBS News 60 Minutes correspondent Scott Pelley interviewed Kelly as part of a feature detailing the extensive capabilities the NYPD has assembled since the Sept. 11th attacks on the World Trade Center in 2001.
In one exchange (starts at 5:15), Pelley asks the Commissioner about NYPD’s preparedness for airborne threats.
Pelley: Are you satisfied that you’ve dealt with threats from aircraft, even light planes, model planes, that kind of thing?
Kelly: Well, it’s something that’s on our radar screen. I mean, in an extreme situation, we would have some means to take down a plane.
Pelley: Do you mean to say the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?
Kelly: Yes, I’d prefer not to get into the details, but, obviously this would be in a very extreme situation.
Pelley: You have the equipment and the training?
Kelly: Yes.
Kelly’s statement raises a whole litany of questions:
- Does the NYPD have surface-to-air missiles? Air-to-air missiles mounted on police helicopters?
- Under what circumstances would they be used? If a weekend warrior wanders a little too close to the skyline in his Cessna, will he be shot down?
- What kind of authority would be needed to use such weapons?
