NYPD Issues Bulletin to Officers After Belgium Terror Attack

The NYPD is reminding all of its officers to “maintain strong situational” awareness after a terror attack in Belgium targeted police officers there Tuesday.

The internal NYPD message states there are no new specific threats to officers, but given the seriousness of the attack in the Belgian city of Liege, officers were told to work with colleagues to constantly monitor for possible “safety threats.”

Two female police officers in Liege were repeatedly stabbed in the back by a terrorist who then took the officers guns and shot them. The suspect then went on to take a hostage at a nearby school before being killed during a shootout with responding police.

Belgian police identified the suspect as Benjamin Herman, who was given a two-day furlough as part of a rehabilitation program. Herman, 36, is a drug suspect turned radical Islamist, authorities said. Witnesses said he screamed “Allahu Akbar” as he attacked the officers.

Belgium authorities are calling the incident a terror attack. Officers Sorayay Belacemi and Lucile Garcia were killed. Four other officers were injured during the shootout.

The NYPD has seen its own officers targeted in recent years. In October 2014, a hatchet-wielding Zale Thompson attacked a group of rookie NYPD officers as they posed for a photo on a Queens street. The incident was called a terror attack by police.

In a separate December 2014 incident, two New York City police officers, Wenjian Liu and Rafael Ramos, were shot and killed as they sat in their patrol car.

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