re: #479 really grumpy big dog johnson
The persons to be congratulated are the street vendor who saw the suspicious vehicle; the cop who then acted swiftly to begin evacuating the area and alerted the FDNY and other NYPD in the area to cordon off the area; and then the bomb squad for disabling and safely disassembling the device.
As to the cameras in the area - they’re useful to help with the law enforcement task of figuring out who did it *after the fact*.