Dazzling police motorcade in NYC

February 7, 2006 7:50 AM

When I was in NYC, I saw quite a spectacle of dozens (maybe up to 50?) of police going down 42nd St in a motorcade/caravan of sorts. A friend of mine said it was so they could quickly move though traffic to get from point A to point B. He said it was "operation something or another". (I am sure it was quite a show of policing prowess and tourists from Virginia can think they are safe.) Can someone please tell me what exactly it is called? The word is on the tip of my tongue and something like operation dazzle. Supposedly it is something rather common.
posted by _zed_ to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

Critical Response Surge
posted by thejoshu at 8:00 AM on February 7, 2006

Are you thinking of "Operation Atlas"?
posted by staggernation at 8:08 AM on February 7, 2006

Operation Hercules?
posted by StickyCarpet at 8:09 AM on February 7, 2006

Thanks thejoshu, that must be it. I thought it was a different name, but the description of the column of police was spot on.
posted by _zed_ at 8:17 AM on February 7, 2006

No prob. I remember the first time I saw the swarm a couple of summers ago, when I was working near Penn Station. It didn't make me feel safe until quite a bit later, when I learned that we weren't under attack after all!
posted by thejoshu at 8:30 AM on February 7, 2006

I work in Times Square and this happens every so often. It invariably freaks out the tourists.
posted by bshort at 9:20 AM on February 7, 2006

Huh. This sounds exactly like something I saw shortly pre-9/11 near the NewYork-Presbyterian hospital. I thought maybe the mayor was in for heart problems or something.
posted by exogenous at 10:03 AM on February 7, 2006

An interesting thing to note when you see one of these is that every car is from a different precinct. There was a huge one on 42nd near Grand Central last week.
posted by MattS at 2:45 PM on February 7, 2006

I believe that you saw the oft-discussed, rarely-glimpsed goyishe minyan.

Or maybe it was just a convoy.
posted by rob511 at 9:32 PM on February 7, 2006 [1 favorite has favorites]