After ISIS video threat, NYPD tells officers to remain 'vigilant'

New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton has ordered his officers to stay vigilant after a video issued by Islamic State militants called for the killing of police officers in Australia, Canada, France and the United States.

In the video released over the weekend, Abu Mohammed al Adnani, spokesman for the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria, encourages extremists to “strike their police, security, and intelligence members, as well as their treacherous agents."

"We take these threats very seriously," Bratton said on "CBS This Morning." "It's something we continually try to drive home to our officers: This is real, that we need to be constantly vigilant."

NYPD officials are asking officers assigned to fixed posts not to sit in their patrol cars together.

"If both officers are in the car, texting away, they are much more vulnerable to attack," Bratton said.

In an email obtained by New York Post, members of the Sergeants Benevolent Association were reminded to "pay close attention to approaching vehicles" and "people as they approach."

"Look for their hands," the email reads.

Bratton noted a similar Twitter threat issued in September was followed by attacks in Canada, Australia and in New York City, where an ax-wielding man attacked four NYPD officers.

"This one is also very specifically directed at law enforcement personnel, so we're encouraging officers that when they're on these fixed posts, that they be even more vigilant that they might ordinarily be," Bratton said.

CNN reports that the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security have issued similar bulletins to law enforcement agencies across the country.

More than 1,000 NYPD officers are assigned to counterterrorism duty, Bratton said — with some used for surveillance, and many others to protect "soft targets."

"Let's face it, every place is a target," Bratton said. "There is no place that is not a potential target. Right now we're high up on media outlets as you might expect based on what happened last week."