Sen. Charles Schumer Calls For Federal Review Of World Trade Center Security
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- Sen. Charles Schumer is asking federal officials to review security at the World Trade Center site after authorities said a series of daredevils sneaked into its signature skyscraper.
Schumer, D-N.Y., said Sunday he wants the Department of Homeland Security to test surveillance equipment at the site, survey the perimeter for possible points of illegal entry and check how security guards are performing.
"We want DHS to look at all of it because given these breaches, our confidence is a little shaky," Schumer told reporters, including 1010 WINS' Roger Stern and WCBS 880's Monica Miller, at the World Trade Center site.
Sen. Charles Schumer Calls For Federal Review Of World Trade Center Security
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey owns the site. Representatives didn't immediately return a call Sunday.
David Velazquez, head of security for 1 World Trade Center, resigned Friday.
On Monday, four men surrendered to police on charges connected with a BASE jump off the building on Sept. 30, before Velazquez began.
Sen. Charles Schumer Calls For Federal Review Of World Trade Center Security
Andrew Rossig, 33; James Brady, 32; Kyle Hartwell, 29; and Marco Markovich, 27, were arraigned on charges of burglary, reckless endangerment and misdemeanor jumping from a structure, police said.
Police said the four squeezed through a hole in a fence and climbed 104 flights of stairs before leaping from the tower. Surveillance video captured the men landing in front of the Goldman Sachs building.
And last week, Justin Casquejo, 16, of Weehawken, N.J., was hit with a misdemeanor trespassing charge after police said he crawled through a hole in the fence, climbed to the top of the building and took pictures for an hour.
"It's believed both the skydivers and the 16-year-old boy crawled through the same hole in the fence to get onto the construction site" Schumer said. "So that means between September to March -- six months -- no one patched up the hole."
The Port Authority responded to Schumer's recommendations Sunday, saying "The recent security lapses at the World Trade Center construction site are unacceptable, and the Port Authority and the Durst Organization have taken significant steps to address them."
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