NYPD's Kelly: Cops can bring down planes

The New York Police Department has the equipment and its officers have the training to bring down planes, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said in a televised interview Sunday night.

The NYPD has "some means to take down a plane," he said on "60 Minutes" on CBS. The wide-ranging interview touched on the NYPD's high-tech counterterrorism efforts that have increased since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Kelly declined to discuss specifics about the plane issue when pressed by program anchor Scott Pelley.

Then Pelley asked, "Do you mean to say that the NYPD has the means to take down an aircraft?"

Kelly replied, "Yes, I prefer not to get into the details, but obviously this would be in a very extreme situation."

New York has avoided another terror attack because of his department's strategies, Kelly said, citing the failed plot to strike the Brooklyn Bridge, as well as because of luck, as in the case of the attempted Times Square bombing.

He said NYPD officers are stationed in places such as Abu Dhabi, Jordan, Tel Aviv and the Dominican Republic. "They're there to act as trip wires or listening posts," he said.

Kelly touted the NYPD's buildup of its antiterrorism operation in the past decade, including the placement of thousands of surveillance cameras throughout the city as well as the widespread use of radiation detectors.