With New York City facing daily demonstrations over the Israel-Hamas war, the NYPD is telling all officers they need to be in full uniform "effective immediately and until further notice."
The department said the city is in a "heightened threat environment and tensions have been rising" since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. As a result, the NYPD said the citywide "all-out deployment" of officers will continue for an unspecified length of time.
A department bulletin shared among intelligence officials on Wednesday raised awareness of the kind of threats potentially out there, such as multiple Al-Qaida affiliate groups and branches calling for attacks and new operations. However, the NYPD has stressed there are no specific, credible threats to New York City and these actions are a precaution.
"The NYPD is doing everything we can do to forestall future violence in our city," the NYPD bulletin said.
There were multiple visible displays of additional NYPD officers throughout the city, including heavily armed teams like the one in front of Central Synagogue on Lexington Avenue. There were also additional MTA police at Grand Central Terminal, which swarmed a track on the lower level after reported of an emotionally disturbed man shouting at people.
Get Tri-state area news and weather forecasts to your inbox. Sign up for NBC New York newsletters.
On Tuesday night, the NYPD posted on X (formerly Twitter): "There are no specific, credible threats to New York City. We are aware of the concern that postings circulating online have caused, and we have increased our uniform deployments at large gatherings and cultural sites to ensure public safety out of an abundance of caution."
All NYPD in-service training is suspended effective with Wednesday morning's shift, in an effort to keep the number of officers on the street as high as possible. Mayor Eric Adams has stressed that New Yorkers should go about their lives as normal, but also remain vigilant.
"Out of an abundance of caution, and to accommodate any potential rapid mobilization, all uniformed members of service were required to report in uniform today," Adams said Wednesday.
Tensions and emotions were on full display as the groups stood their ground for several hours. At one point in the night, someone burned an Israeli flag.
The dueling protests mirrored a similar standoff on Columbia University's campus last week, when campus officials restricted campus access to students and ID holders only.
The NYPD ramped up security over the past weekend after a video posted to social media by former Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal, allegedly called on people to treat Friday as a day of "anger," or a "day of rage," according to NBC News. The terrorist group's former leader urged people to come together in a day of protests to support Palestine's freedom, according to the Jewish Security Alliance of New York/New Jersey.
The order for all officers to show up to work in full uniform is a rare request. The NYPD has also told officers in marked care to have their "turret lights" on top of their cars on at all times.
Meanwhile, a Homeland Security official told NBC News that the Department of Homeland Security is monitoring a “heightened threat environment” in the United States and is concerned about attacks on Jewish-Americans, Arab-Americans and Muslim-Americans.
DHS, the FBI, and the National Counterterrorism Center are coordinating and “constantly monitoring the threat environment,” including online chatter where, “the intensity has gotten worse," according to NBC News.
Al Qaeda and American neo-Nazi linked groups have been trying to exploit the current Israel-Hamas war to encourage attacks, according to two separate intelligence products obtained by NBC News.
Among the concerns of the security official is the possibility for clashes at protests.
The NYPD's latest bulletin asks New Yorkers to "remain vigilant and reminds everyone if they see something to say something."
More rallies and demonstrations are planned in New York City for Wednesday.
Protests in the city have been a near-daily occurrence since Oct. 7 when Hamas attacked Israel.
