One World Trade Center is America's tallest building and a vessel for a lot of political symbolism. Which means it's the perfect place for the NYPD and Port Authority to have a turf war.
The jurisdictional debate over Ground Zero is nothing new, but the Post has details on how the fight has now devolved into a virtual dick-measuring contest.
Apparently, the NYPD was upset when the PA Police Department put a "guard booth at the site bearing the agency’s logo." From the Post:
The move riled NYPD officials, who retaliated Wednesday night by ordering cops to roll up a massive mobile command center, bearing the department’s own giant logo, and park just feet away.
Angry PAPD bosses first tried to use diplomacy — asking the NYPD in the nicest way possible to lose the truck, sources said. But the department refused.
Not to be outdone by the city cops, the PAPD then looked to its own fleet for retaliation. A few hours later, they pulled up behind the NYPD’s truck with a newer, shinier, more high-tech command center that even had a satellite dish on top.
“Our truck came in the morning, and they brought theirs in the afternoon. It’s like, look, ours is bigger and newer than yours,” an NYPD officer told The Post.
A PA insider said the guys in charge felt their territory was being invaded.
“It’s tantamount to the NYPD parking their vehicle in someone else’s driveway,” said the source.
Never forget...who has the bigger truck! More specifically, the NYPD's mobile command center acts as an office on wheels and costs $500,000 while the PAPD's truck is for "special operations" (there's a spotlight) and costs about $1 million.
Initially it was thought that the PAPD would wait for the new mayor to be in office before discussing the power structure, but earlier this year Governor Chris Christie said the Port Authority's police would oversee the WTC site. This is a change from a 2008 agreement between the two police departments, but 2008 was a long time ago and its best to have these contests now before shrinkage sets in.
