METRO Increases Security as Holiday Approaches
Monday, July 02, 2007 5:21 PM
Starting tomorrow, you'll see men and women in white uniforms working side-by-side with METRO police on our rail platforms, trains and buses.
It's all part of our increased security in response to last weekend's attempted car bombings in London and Glasgow, said MPD Chief Tom Lambert.
"We'll have teams tomorrow - folks with white uniforms that say, ‘TSA' will be working beside our police officers on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We've been working with the Transportation Security Administration which will add more people to observe what's happening on our train system, as well as our buses and transit centers," said Lambert.
In addition, MPD will have officers in plainclothes riding the buses and trains this week.
Houston is one of eight cities nationwide participating in this partnership with the TSA. "There's no credible information that says we need to be concerned about a terrorist attack in Houston or the country. This is just an exercise to see how we can work with local and federal officials," explained Lambert, adding that the attempted car bombs triggered the exercise.
Today, two more suspects were arrested by British police, bringing the total number of suspects in the attempted car bombings to seven, reported the New York Times.
Homeland Security continues to rank our current threat level at elevated, or yellow. For all domestic and international flights, the nation's threat level is high, or orange.
Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said we are safe as a nation, but the government is increasing security at the nation's airports and mass transit systems as the Fourth of July holiday nears, including adding more air marshals. Read his statement here.
Some train and bus companies reported a slight increase in ridership because of the heightened alert at airports, reported the Boston Globe.
But Lambert said people should continue to do their business as usual and ride the buses and trains as they normally would, adding, "If you see anything suspicious, report it."