New York endured yet another attack from the terrorist villains known as the 'Break Brothers'. This time, however, the NYPD seemed ready for them...
Yesterday started as a normal day for me. I got my coffee. I went on my walk. And I noticed, like a lot of other fellow New Yorkers, the congregation of Police Officers buzzing around the city like a swarm of angry bees.
Then, I noticed the lack of them. None at the station near Times Square. None anywhere near Manhattan, actually. I spent a little while hunting for them... and found all of them at the Docks, in Brooklyn.
I observed for a while. They seemed to be doing something, right? Maybe a big drug bust or other such raid. I was warned off pretty quick by a pair of Officers, who immediately demanded I leave the area 'for my own safety'. I made clear I would be wanting a press statement with all this excitement, and stepped back!
Other people noticed too, of course. They gathered, as New Yorkers tend to do, moths to the flame. I approached to help the boys in blue out, only to receive my 'second warning', and a swift demand to leave once again!
Whatever was happening, the NYPD expected it to go down, and had cordoned off the entire Docks without explanation.
The story soon panned out, of course. The Break Brothers arrived, seemingly intent on the docks, and a fight broke out. The NYPD formed a perimeter... and seemed more focused on bullying the average New Yorker than assisting in the takedown of the attacking villain. One Officer, according to eyewitness reports (including my own eyes), discharged a taser on a person for 'getting too close' to a fight that none of us could even see. It is my understanding she did this multiple times.
To add to this growing disaster, the cordon failed. Whatever was going on (the NYPD have yet to give their offered statement!), the Break Brothers were soon wreaking havoc in Brooklyn. Demands were made to evacuate. Heroes stepped in, and once again, saved the day.
Ultimately, this was a success. Casualties do not even touch upon the Vantage Tower incident, and were mostly kept to the brave officers of the NYPD. But the failure of the cordon, the failure to properly notify and keep civilians out of the area they clearly wished to keep us away from, and the fact that, once again, Vestige had to fight tooth and nail...
It paints a poor picture of the NYPD, who have been recently wracked with scandals.
We can only take solace that, according to reports, both Break Brothers are now in the custody of (hopefully) the GDA, and far from New York.
But the authoritarian actions and lack of transparency by the NYPD paint a worrying future. In the next attack, are we going to be safer with the NYPD, or further away from them?