Super troopers
Gov flexes muscle with airport forces
GOV. CUOMO has flooded the city’s airports with state troopers over the last few months, causing friction with both Mayor de Blasio and Port Authority cops, the Daily News has learned.
On Saturday, in a move seen as one-upmanship, a “noticeable” presence of state troopers — about 25 according to one estimate — flanked de Blasio when he landed at Kennedy Airport’s Terminal 4 at 2 a.m., sources said.
Only one Port Authority cop was there to escort the mayor and his security team to his vehicle.
“It must have been Cuomo’s way of showing de Blasio whose d--- was bigger,” a Port Authority source speculated.
State officials disputed the account, claiming the report was overblown.
“Whoever is feeding you this garbage is trying to politicize public safety and should be ashamed,” Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said.
Roughly 100 state troopers, who critics have nicknamed “the purple army” because of the color of their ties, have been deployed at both JFK and LaGuardia airports, leaving Port Authority cops — the ones assigned to protect those areas — scratching their heads since no one from the city ever asked for additional assistance, sources said.
State officials said the troopers were sent to the airports in the wake of the Jan. 6 shooting at a Fort Lauderdale, Fla., airport that killed five people and wounded six.
That was three months ago — and there is no indication the troopers will return upstate any time soon, officials said.
The additional support is “open ended,” said Beau Duffy, a spokesman for the state police, meaning there is no expected rollback date.
Duffy insisted the decision to bring troopers to city airports had nothing to do with politics.
“The superintendent of state police put the troopers in amid security concerns following the mass shooting in Florida,” he said. “That’s the only reason.”
Since their arrival, troopers and Port Authority cops have butted heads on several occasions as they patrol the same areas and try to find ways to work together.
“There is no reason for (the troopers) to be there and no group has been asked for his assistance,” said Robert Egbert, a spokesman for the Port Authority Police Benevolent Association. “It’s our belief that (Gov. Cuomo) is using his purple army to increase his New York City imprint for his own political ambitions.”
The rifts between Port Authority rank-and-file officers and state troopers come as tensions continue to build between de Blasio and Cuomo, who have discussed who should provide additional security at the airports — the state police or the NYPD.
Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye said his agency “supports additional law enforcement resources, from the state police to the National Guard, working with the Port Authority Police Department at JFK and LaGuardia.”