10,000 COPS TO GUARD GARDEN FOR GOP GALA By STEFAN C. FRIEDMAN
Nearly 10,000 of New York's Finest will be working to keep this summer's Republican convention safe - the largest force ever assigned to a national political gathering, NYPD sources told The Post.
The figure is more than triple the nearly 3,000 police assigned to the Democratic convention in 1992, the last time the city hosted a presidential party gala.
"For the first time, there will be an expansive counterterrorism overlay that is expected to increase the numbers significantly," said one police official.
City cops will also assist the Secret Service - the lead agency in charge of security - in dealing with huge numbers of protesters and protecting President Bush when he arrives at Madison Square Garden to accept the Republican nomination.
The anti-terror cops won't just be working the four days spanning the convention, from Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.
Already they are poring over records of people who have signed up to work during the convention, and they are studying unusual purchases - like large numbers of rental trucks - in and outside of New York City.
A group of detectives even headed south recently to attend a conference on crop-dusting. Terrorists have eyed using the small planes to release a biological or chemical weapon into the air.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne wouldn't comment on how many cops would work the four-day gala, but did say, "The NYPD formula for convention coverage is whatever it takes."
More than 3,000 cops were assigned to last month's protest against the Iraq war - a 50,000-person march that went off without major incident.
And reports had 7,000 cops monitoring Times Square last New Year's Eve, though a source inside the NYPD said that number "sounded high."
But while NYPD brass are confident they can assign the nearly 10,000 cops to the convention without sacrificing safety in other parts of the city, the situation in Boston - where the Democrats are holding their nomination party in July - is quite different.
The Secret Service is concerned that Beantown's 2,200-person police force won't be able to handle the security needs of the convention, and state troopers will likely be called in to help, according to The Boston Herald. The Secret Service has denied that report.
The security blanket wrapping the Big Apple comes as officials from top levels of government have warned that the GOP convention - as well as other large-scale events in upcoming months - could be a tempting target for terrorists.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge earlier this week assigned a new task force to "coordinate government and private security" at such events because the country is entering a time "with symbolic opportunities for the terrorists to try to shake our will," according to Ridge.