New York police to buy bullet proof boat

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The New York Police Department plans to buy a bullet-proof boat to respond quickly to threats at the city's ports and waterways, Police Commissioner Ray Kelly said on Tuesday.

The police will buy the hi-tech boat with a $5.2 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Kelly said in testimony to the City Council.

"This will provide for the purchase of a high-speed, ballistic-protected vessel to respond to a suicide or live shooter attack in a port area," Kelly said.

The FEMA money will also provide for training officers who would be assigned to responding to such threats, he said.

Kelly said the police department has a budget of $4.45 billion for the coming fiscal year, compared with $4.88 million this year.

Overall, he also said crime went down 2 percent in 2010, especially burglaries, grand larcenies and auto theft. Homicides and rapes increased, he said.

"Viewed in context these crimes are still low by historical standards," he said. "Last year's total of 536 murders was the fourth lowest the city has recorded since reliable data was kept on this crime in 1963."

(Reporting by Bernd Debusmann Jr., editing by Ellen Wulfhorst and Greg McCune)