Security drill exercise ahead of Pope visit to NY

Officials from nearly 50 government agencies — and one of the spiritual variety — ran through possible emergency scenarios Monday in preparation for Pope Francis’ visit to the Big Apple.

The Multi-Agency Coordination Center Exercise began at 8 a.m. at
Police Headquarters in lower Manhattan. It was the second held so far in preparation for the pope’s three-day stay starting Sept. 24, which coincides with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.

“I think it’s fair to say the United Nations General Assembly alone — 170-plus world leaders — would constitute an extraordinary moment in this city’s history,” Mayor de Blasio said after the exercise ended. “And the visit of his holiness obviously at any moment would be one of the extraordinary moments we would experience. But when you combine them, we can say safely we’ve literally never seen something like this before and we welcome it.”


Representatives from the NYPD, FDNY, and the U.S. Secret Service were among those who met in a room on the second floor of One Police Plaza.

The Vatican was also represented.

Among the possible emergencies considered were two active shooters — one at a hospital and another at a train station.

They also ran through a power outage and a building collapse on Cliff St. in the Financial District, and the possibility of improvised explosive devices.

“We have an explosion” at a theater near Times Square, NYPD Lt. John Mahon said. “It’s an I.E.D. explosion from a backpack. So we’ve got to get everyone involved. There’s no report of casualties yet.”

GIORGIO ONORATI/EPA
Pope Francis' visit to New York City, starting Sept. 24, coincides with the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
Law enforcement officials told de Blasio — who attended the exercise — how agencies work together at events and provide each other assistance when resources run low.

Also at the meeting were representatives of the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner; Amtrak; the U.S. Coast Guard; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Federal Communications Commission; the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Energy. Con Edison and Verizon were also represented.

“The idea is we can see the stretching of our resources,” John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of counter-terrorism and intelligence, told the mayor. “A lot of wheels turning at once.”

At one point, a FDNY representative was asked if he had enough emergency medical service people to handle the growing need. He said “No,” but added he had requested “mutual aid” from New Jersey.

“Basically, it’s information in, resources out,” said Capt. Osvaldo Nunez of the NYPD’s Operations Division, speaking to the mayor.

The Pope was taken off the table for the purpose of Monday’s exercise, the NYPD said. The resources necessary to protect him were set aside as each agency figured out how to cope with the other extreme events.

Meanwhile, the Archdiocese of New York announced Monday that several stars, including Harry Connick Jr., Gloria Estefan and Jennifer Hudson, will perform devotional music in a two-hour show that will precede Francis’ Mass at Madison Square Garden next week.