Security up in some US locales, business as usual at others

Times Square, French consulates and sports stadiums see increased security Saturday but authorities note the stepped-up patrols are out of an abundance of caution.

Consulates in New York and Boston receive extra security along with French-owned sites in Washington. But elsewhere, like Minnesota’s Mall of America, it is business as usual.

Sports venues are mindful of security in response to the attacks, which included suicide bombings outside the Stade de France during a soccer match between France and Germany.

Guards at the Naval Academy’s game against Southern Methodist University randomly select people to screen with metal detectors and fans are asked to unzip their coats before entering Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Police in Los Angeles say they will beef up patrols for UCLA’s game against Washington State at the Rose Bowl Stadium and a cricket match at Dodger Stadium.

The National Football League says it had been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI and plans increased security inside and outside stadiums on Sunday. League officials discourage fans from bringing bags.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says the State Police, National Guard and other agencies are on a heightened state of alert. The New York Police Department deploys its “Critical Response Command” — officers equipped with heavy weapons and other tactical equipment — to important locations including transportation hubs and the Broadway theater district. Officers with radiation detectors and bomb-detecting equipment are sent to subway stations and are randomly conducting bag checks.

“This is not the kind of thing that is a wakeup call to New York City,” John Miller, the department’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, says of the Paris attacks during a news conference Saturday afternoon. “We’ve been awake about this for a long time.”

In Washington, DC, additional law enforcement officers are deployed to French-owned sites and other high-profile locations out of “an abundance of caution,” says police spokesman Officer Sean Hickman. In Boston, the Massachusetts State Police says there is “a comprehensive and multi-layered security package” in place at Logan International Airport — where most of hijackers boarded planes on September 11, 2001 — and enhanced patrols near the State House.

There is no visible security increase at downtown Chicago’s major transportation and tourist hubs, though police Superintendent Garry McCarthy says the police department is actively monitoring events in Paris and keeping in contact with federal law enforcement partners.

In Minnesota, a Bloomington police official says there are no plans to increase security at the Mall of America, which sees some 40 million visitors each year. In February, a video purportedly made by al-Qaeda-linked rebels urged Muslims to attack shopping malls and specifically mentioned the Mall of America. Authorities said at the time there was “no credible” evidence suggesting such an attack was in the works.

Los Angeles police say there are no known threats against the city, but the department beefs up patrols at what it called critical sites, including a Snoop Dogg concert.

— AP