Stepped-up LI patrols after terror alert

Long Islanders are seeing intensified police patrols, armed officers walking through shopping malls and random bag checks at Long Island Rail Road stations in response to a security alert for the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano said such precautions were part of the county's contingency for dealing with threats and that county residents should go about their routines while remaining vigilant.

"Just go about your day, but keep alert," Deputy Chief Frank Kirby of the Nassau County Highway Patrol said at a news conference Friday with Mangano and others.

Counterterrorism officials said Thursday they were chasing a credible but unconfirmed tip that al-Qaida had plans to set off a car bomb in New York City or Washington around the Sept. 11 anniversary, with bridges or tunnels as potential targets, The Associated Press said. It was the first word of a possible "active plot" timed to coincide with commemoration of the terror group's attacks a decade ago. As part of the Operation Secure Our Cities initiative, police in Nassau have intensified patrols in areas identified as potential threats, including shopping malls and train stations.

There was no visible police presence at midday Friday at the Roosevelt Field mall, and several shoppers said having uniformed officers around would make them feel safer.

Eme Kalu, 19, a student at Nassau Community College, said of a police presence: "I don't have a problem with it. It makes me feel safer."

As he sat in the food court, Kalu's friend Charlie Persaud, 20, a student at Farmingdale State College, said police might be a deterrent, "but not necessarily an unstoppable force."

Georgia Cusaac, a Queens resident who works as a school bus monitor in Albertson, said a police presence would be, "fine with me. Whatever security they use is good. More security would ease people a little bit."

Frank and Shirley Santos of Queens said they felt better with police around. "I'd feel safe. Sure," Frank said. Shirley added: "Definitely. It feels good."

At the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, a lone uniformed Nassau County police officer, who said the area was part of his regular patrol, was writing a ticket for a motorcycle that was parked illegally.

"The more security the better," Nina Longo of Valley Stream said as she got out of her car. Her friend, Lucy Pergola of Valley Stream, added, "especially now, since there's a terror threat."Suffolk Police Commissioner Richard Dormer said there would be high-visibility patrols at transportation facilities and key routes.

In Ronkonkoma, heavily armed officers patrolled the train station Thursday.

Police will work closely with the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the NYPD, Dormer said.

The public won't see some of the measures, such as special patrols using radiation detectors and other operations police in Nassau and Suffolk would not discuss.

On Thursday night, an MTA officer noted a suspicious gray sedan parked at the Hicksville train station, and a canine officer with a bomb-sniffing dog was alerted to a potential explosive substance in the vehicle.

Police said officers ran the license plate of the Infiniti sedan, which was parked under the railroad trestle, and learned the tags were from a different car. Service to the station was temporarily suspended as Arson / Bomb Squad officers investigated, but they found no threat.With John Valenti

and Ann Givens