US Coast Guard Goes Overboard on Ferry Security

NEW YORK POST, June 2, 2003

 

Ferry passengers citywide - including tens of thousands of Staten Island riders - will have to go through metal detectors next year as part of a new federal law that aims to tighten security aboard commuter and tour boats, The Post has learned.

 

Within the next two weeks, the Coast Guard is expected to issue a new list of anti-terrorism regulations that include the installation of surveillance cameras and X-ray scanners to prevent someone from bringing guns or bombs aboard ferries, sources said. Under the plan, ferry riders would be screened before boarding a boat, just as airline passengers must now be checked before boarding planes. The new measures - part of a federal anti-terrorism law passed last year - will be put in place by June 2004.

 

With more than 70,000 riders a day on the Staten Island Ferry, riders - including 20,000 during the morning and evening rush - passengers can look forward to long lines and headaches as they're processed. The rules would also apply to private ferry and tour-boat operators, like New York Waterway, NY Taxi and the Circle Line.

 

There have been security improvements on the Staten Island Ferry's seven-boat fleet since the Sept. 11 attacks, including the banning of vehicles on the vessels. The NYPD has also beefed up its harbor patrol since 9/11, and has stationed uniformed and undercover cops at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan and the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island.