Ex-NYPD commissioner says Europe doesn’t coordinate to stop terrorists

Former New York City Police Department Commissioner Ray Kelly said in an interview aired Sunday that European countries don’t coordinate with each other to stop terrorism.

European countries need to get their “act together,” Kelly told John Catsimatidis on 970 AM in New York.

“In Europe, they need to get their act together a little bit more. They don’t coordinate, they don’t communicate with each other on the level that they should,” Kelly said. “They’re paying a price for that.”

Kelly also pointed to Europe’s history of “tolerating extremist speech” as a problem.

“They also had a bit of a tradition of tolerating extremist speech, and you know how we know that? The Prime Minister, Theresa May, said that, that ‘for too long, we’ve been tolerating this radicalism.'”

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The former top New York City cop warned that European countries needed to make changes to their counterterrorism efforts, or risk recent attacks becoming “the new normal.”

Recent terror attacks have rocked the United Kingdom and other countries in Europe. Earlier in June, a group of attackers killed seven people in London when they drove into a crowd of people near the London Bridge and committed a separate stabbing attack nearby.

A month prior, a bomber attacked fans leaving an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, killing 22 people. ISIS has claimed responsibility for both attacks.

“Things have to change in Europe, hopefully they’re on the right track, but it’s going to take them a while, as far as coordination, to get together,” Kelly continued. “One of the reasons is there’s still hostility between several countries in Europe, de facto hostilities.”

“They’re not willing to give up information about sources and methods to other countries in the EU, for instance,” he said.

Kelly was once considered as a top contender to replace former President Obama’s Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, a spot which eventually went to Jeh Johnson. In December, Kelly pushed for tougher policing laws and endorsed tougher vetting for immigrants after President Trump’s election a month prior.

“I think we need some deeper vetting, deeper examination of people who are coming in,” Kelly said in December. “I think it is necessary in this day and age.”