New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton says he needs 450 new officers immediately to protect the city from Islamic State (ISIS) terrorists and their lone-wolf sympathizers.
"We need to be very concerned about terrorism," Bratton told John Catsimatidis, host of
"The Cats Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York on Sunday.
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The threat from ISIS "using social media to recruit people not only to go to Syria to fight, but encouraging people … to attack police, to attack government officials, to basically brainwash them under their screwed-up ideology," has increased during his 16 months as commissioner, Bratton said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet to agree to increase the size of the force, Bratton said. The city council is asking for 1,000 new officers. Bratton says he believes a compromise number will be achieved.
"We are entering a new era where we cannot live in fear, but we have to live increasingly aware of our surroundings," Bratton said. "This crazy hijacking of the Muslim religion by these fanatics, twisting it into an ideology that’s all about hate and murder and killing."
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