Ex-Boston Police commish: ‘Worst fears came true’ with New Orleans terror assault

Ex-Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis went to mattress on New 12 months’s Eve with a nagging feeling that one thing dangerous would possibly occur, however whereas crowds began to interrupt up with out incident in different giant cities, his “worst fears came true” in New Orleans.

Davis, who led the Boston Marathon Bombing response in 2013 and now heads a safety providers agency, mentioned he was on excessive alert as a result of terror assault that occurred earlier this vacation season in Germany, when a person drove right into a Christmas market, killing 5 individuals and injuring 200 others.

“Whenever there’s an attack like that, my former colleagues ramp up our preventative measures,” Davis informed the Herald Wednesday. “The terrible fact in this business is that copycats are frequently the cause of follow-on attacks. This is sort of a classic example of that.”

A driver rammed a truck right into a crowd of New Orleans revelers round 3:15 a.m. Wednesday alongside Bourbon Road, killing 10 individuals and injuring 35 others in what the FBI is investigating as a terror assault.

Davis mentioned the investigation will contain evaluating whether or not there have been any safety failures, pointing to the bollards that have been down for repairs on Bourbon Road.

He talked about, nevertheless, that the motive force struck at a time when individuals have been breaking down their safety protocols for the vacation occasion — which can have been a part of the planning with the suspect mendacity in look ahead to barricades to be eliminated.

Daniel Linskey, an ex-Boston Police superintendent-in-chief, who oversaw the Marathon Bombing response and investigation, mentioned if the motive force was capable of get round any of the stationary obstacles designed to stop autos from accessing congested areas throughout the festivities, that constituted a safety failure.

Linskey mentioned there are measures different cities like Boston can and does take to stop or mitigate comparable assaults at large-scale occasions, citing weapons screening, intelligence protocols, and obstacles that have been in place throughout First Night time festivities — however no method is fool-proof.

“Can we prevent somebody who is hell-bent on causing death and destruction from doing that? No, there’s no way to make the entire city of Boston safe 24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” Linskey informed the Herald. “Law enforcement has to be right every day, and the bad guy has to just get lucky one time.”

Mayor Michelle Wu, addressing the New Orleans assault after an unrelated occasion on Wednesday, mentioned it was “unthinkable that on the day of celebration, something so devastating would happen.”

The mayor, whereas expressing confidence in Boston’s public security planning for large-scale occasions, mentioned town has been “quite lucky” in avoiding the surprising catastrophic occasions which have dominated latest headlines somewhere else.

“We host some of the largest public events anywhere in the country, with the Boston Marathon and other celebrations throughout the year, and so there’s always a sense that months of planning can go into it,” Wu informed reporters. “The unexpected can always happen, but we do our very best with the technology, the preparation, the coordination to make sure that all of those situations are accounted for.”

Metropolis Councilor Ed Flynn, who’s contemplating a bid for mayor, referred to as the terrorist assault “an attack on America.” He pointed to the Metropolis Council’s acceptance of $12 million federal anti-terrorism grant for the area final month, saying that it was crucial for Boston to “continue to coordinate and work closely with city, state and federal law enforcement agencies.”

“We must always be vigilant and prepared,” Flynn mentioned.