Australian consulate guarded by elite NYPD squad following siege
Specialist New York Police Department officers were deployed to the Australian consulate. (Getty) Getty
The Australian consulate in Manhattan is being protected by the New York Police Department's elite, special forces-type Hercules Team following the deadly Sydney terror siege.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton are taking no chances.
The metropolis' many iconic sites, including the Empire State Building, Times Square, Wall Street and Columbus Circle, have also been beefed up with extra police following the takeover of Sydney's Lindt cafe on Monday by Iranian immigrant Man Haron Monis.
"We are taking appropriate precautions, making sure we are beefing up our presence at locations related to the Australian government and other pertinent locations around the city," de Blasio told reporters.
The NYPD is keen to learn details about the terror-inspired siege of the Lindt Chocolate Cafe in Martin Place, which ended early on Tuesday with the deaths of hostages Katrina Dawson and Tori Johnson, and Monis, after a 16-hour stand-off.
The NYPD has been in close contact with the Australian Federal Police and NSW Police and is sending officers from its Singapore-based intelligence bureau to Sydney.
"Of course, we always put the New York overlay there and say, 'If that incident happened here what would be the dynamics that are the same and those that are different?'", NYPD deputy commissioner John Miller said.
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