Security to Tighten in U.S. Cities After Manchester Bombing Local police around the country are increasing patrols around venues and arena operators and college officials are planning extra precautions By Scott Calvert, Zolan Kanno-Youngs and Melissa Korn
https://www.wsj.com/articles/security-to-tighten-in-u-s-cities-after-manchester-bombing-1495563334
Sports fans, college graduates and others can expect heightened security at U.S. arenas in the coming days after Monday night’s bomb attack in Manchester, England that killed 22 and injured 59.
Officials at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland said they are implementing “additional appropriate” security measures for Tuesday evening’s NBA playoff game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics. The officials declined to elaborate.
The series will head to Boston’s TD Garden arena on Thursday, and fans are being asked to arrive early because of increased security.
College administrators and security personnel are taking additional precautions ahead of graduation activities that will bring thousands of visitors to campuses or nearby arenas.
Police in several cities stepped up patrols Tuesday, including in New York, where police rolled out counterterrorism units to music venues, transit hubs, sports arenas and other locations, as the Monday night attack renewed concerns about the vulnerability of public gatherings.
The Boston Police Department said it has increased patrols at concert venues as a precautionary measure. Among the events scheduled this weekend is the Boston Calling Music Festival, a three-day affair at Harvard University’s athletic complex in Boston’s Allston neighborhood.
Organizers said they are working with law enforcement and will “take all appropriate steps to ensure our event will be executed in a safe and secure manner for everyone this weekend,” said co-founders Brian Appel and Mike Snow.
In Baltimore, fans will see a greater security presence outside Oriole Park at Camden Yards before and after Tuesday evening’s baseball game between the Baltimore Orioles and Minnesota Twins, said Vernon Conaway Jr., who oversees security at the ballpark and the neighboring football stadium where the Ravens play.
Uniformed police officers, police dogs and security staff already operate outside the downtown ballpark, particularly around a nearby light-rail stop and other pedestrian choke points, he said, and that will increase starting Tuesday.
Mr. Conaway said that anyone entering the stadium must go through a metal detector and submit to a bag check, and that bomb-sniffing dogs patrol the facility.
“Everything inside of the stadium walls we feel very good about,” he said. “It’s the exterior that we have to be vigilant and present to make sure that people coming to our event, and people leaving our event, are as protected and safe as they are when they are inside.”
The suicide bombing outside a pop concert in Manchester highlighted the challenge of guarding against such an attack near a facility’s exits, said Mitch Silber, the New York Police Department’s former director of intelligence analysis.
“That’s a much more nefarious and harder to detect phenomenon,” said Mr. Silber, a security risk consultant for FTI Consulting. “Some type of adjustments are going to have to be made in the way the perimeter of stadiums are covered as events come to a close.”CONTINUE AT SITE
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