From the Daily News:Nearly 700 city cops will be assigned to a new command dedicated to policing the Freedom Tower and surrounding area, NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Tuesday.
The World Trade Center Command will not be fully staffed until Ground Zero is completely rebuilt.
But the 673 officers that will eventually work out of the new command will give it substantially more manpower than any other NYPD precinct.
The precincts that have the largest headcounts - the Midtown South Precinct in Manhattan and the 75th Precinct in Brooklyn - each have about 400 cops.
Since the NYPD has roughly 6,000 fewer cops now than it did shortly after 9-11, a big question surrounds the new command: Where is Kelly going to get the cops to staff it?
Police brass said it is not clear how many of the 673 cops will be new hires and how many will be pulled from other assignments.
And it appears the city budget will have to absorb any additional financial impact, since - as of right now - no federal money has been earmarked for the Ground Zero cops.
