City Taking Steps To Prevent Brooklyn Bridge Climbing
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The city is continuing to beef up security on the Brooklyn Bridge following two high-profile security breaches.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said Thursday that work is underway to make it more difficult for people to climb around the gates protecting the span's cables. Meanwhile, NYPD patrol posts have been moved to where the cables land and people might try to climb on, WCBS 880's Rich Lamb reported.
On Sunday, a Russian tourist was arrested after he scaled a cable beam on the Brooklyn side of the bridge and reached the top of the tower.
On July 22, two American flags on the Brooklyn Bridge's towers were replaced with whitewashed versions of Old Glory. Two German artists have claimed responsibility.
Speaking to reporters at police headquarters, Miller said police asked themselves, "How do we fabricate something around those gates so that they're not just a physical deterrent that can be compromised by climbing around it, but what can we do to make them more difficult to climb around?
"If you look up there today, you'll see some of the first signs of that," Miller said. "Over the next couple of weeks, you'll see those barriers become more difficult to compromise."
Miller said security is also being tightened on the Manhattan and Williamsburg bridges.
"We're looking at those so that we don't secure the Brooklyn Bridge and then push traffic to other bridges for the same kind of stunts," Miller said.
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