NYPD Commissioner Blasts LA's 'Overreaction' To Bomb Threat

NEW YORK -- While Los Angeles public schools shut down Tuesday after an anonymous bomb threat, New York City handled the same threat by dismissing it.

NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton told reporters that officials in the city received the same emailed threat but determined it was a hoax, according to the New York Daily News. He said the "A" in Allah wasn't capitalized, a mistake a real jihadist wouldn't make, the Daily News reported.

As for closing schools, Bratton said, "It's what they want, whether it's a prankster or a terrorist, they want to instill fear."

A bomb threat emailed to school board officials in Los Angeles prompted the closure of the country's second-largest school district. Ramon Cortines, superintendent for the Los Angeles Unified School District, defended his decision to shut the doors.

"It's due to circumstances in neighboring San Bernardino," Cortines said, referring to the mass shooting earlier this month that killed 14 people. "I, as superintendent, am not going to take the chance with the life of a student."

Bratton criticized that decision.

"To disrupt the daily school schedules of half a million schoolchildren, their parents, day care, buses, based on an anonymous email with no consultation -- if, in fact, consultation did not occur with law enforcement authorities -- I think it was a significant overreaction," he said.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said the threats were "generic" and "outlandish," according to PIX 11.