Statue of Liberty Security Screening Has a New Process That Will Be Conducted at Battery Park

The federal government has started a new security screening process for visitors to the Statue of Liberty, according to the Associated Press. Tourists will now go through the security screening process at Battery Park before boarding the ferry that takes them to Liberty Island. This plan replaces a previous plan that the police commissioner, Raymond Kelly, determined was unsafe.

Initially, the National Park Service planned to move security screenings from lower Manhattan to Liberty and Ellis Islands. However, Kelly and Senator Chuck Schumer expressed concerns that the arrangement would make ferry boats headed to the island a "sitting duck" for terrorists.

"Al Qaeda and those who share its violent jihadist ideology repeatedly call for attacks on America," Kelly wrote last month, in a letter to Interior Secretary Sally Jewell.

Visitors to the Statue of Liberty have undergone the screening process at Battery Park for the past 12 years. That process began soon after September 11.

Jewell asked Mayor Bloomberg to assist in expediting the building of a Battery Park screening facility in time for the July 4 reopening of Liberty Island, which was hit hard by Hurricane Sandy.

"We're happy they were willing to reach an agreement with the mayor that comports with the Police Department's concerns," Paul Browne, a spokesman for the NYPD, said.

"It's the right decision, and an example of government agencies working together to achieve practical solutions," Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement. "We will do everything we can to assist in getting the screening procedures in place in time for the July 4^th holiday and we look forward to continuing our work with the National Park Service to protect Lady Liberty and the millions of Americans who will visit her in the years to come."

Senator Schumer also expressed his approval of the plan.

"The Statue of Liberty is vital to maintaining our preeminence as the tourist capital of America, and with these procedures in place, it can continue to safely draw people from around the world to this beacon of freedom," Schumer said in a statement.