Testifying before the City Council yesterday, NYPD Commissioner Ray Kelly said the New York City Police Department wants to duplicate its Lower Manhattan “ring of steel” security system in Midtown.

The system, which covers about 1.7 square miles below Canal Street, uses surveillance cameras, license plate readers, and radiation detectors to feed information back to a state-of-the-art command center.

Kelly said the new system would cover 34th Street to 59th Street from the East River to the Hudson River.

He says the department is asking for $21 million in federal homeland security money to help pay for it.

“It’s basically taking the concept of hardening Manhattan south of Canal Street and moving it up to the Midtown area as well,” explained Kelly.

Critics have argued “the ring of steel” is a violation of personal privacy. But proponents say it is an invaluable tool for monitoring congested, high security areas, especially in a time of budget cuts when there will be fewer officers on the street.

(Source: NY1)