NYPD, others on high alert after terrorist threat

NEW YORK CITY , N.Y., Jan. 12 (UPI) -- New York City's police are taking extra precautions after Islamic State militants renewed a September 2014 threat telling followers to "rise up and kill intelligence officers, police officers, soldiers, and civilians."

NYPD officers were told to remain alert to the threat, which specifically names the United States, France, Australia and Canada as targets. The FBI and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a similar warning to law enforcement agencies nationwide.

"Pay close attention to people as they approach and look for their hands as they approach you," reads an NYPD internal memo obtained by the New York Daily News.

In issuing the safety warning, New York police officials said the IS threat was similar to the threat made in September and noted it should be taken seriously "in light of the terror attacks in France earlier this week," the Daily News reported.

On CBS's "Face the Nation" on Sunday, John Miller, NYPD deputy-commissioner for counterterrorism, said he didn't think "we are under any more threat ... or any less threat than we were the day before, the Washington Times reported.