After last week’s tragic bombing at the Boston Marathon, the city of Boston, the state of Massachusetts and the nation as a whole was understandably filled with tension and unease.
The authorities requested we be vigilant and on high alert. We here in metro Atlanta certainly took that request seriously.
Following the bombing in Boston, Atlanta saw a huge rise in “suspicious package” calls to local law enforcement agencies.
Countless times last week, squad cars and in some cases bomb squads were sent out to check suspicious packages. In at least two instances, the authorities were forced to shut down entire interstates to investigate. Traffic, as you might imagine was severely impacted.
Were there more suspicious packages left around town last week, or were citizens just more observant? Probably the latter, but that’s O.K. Much like the days, weeks and months post-9/11, everyday people like you and me feel the need to take on more responsibility and have more awareness about our surroundings.
Thankfully, all of the packages investigated last week turned out to be benign. Nothing nefarious, nothing that could cause any harm.
Is the increased security and increase in calls on suspicious packages worth the extended delays on the roads? To me, yes, it is definitely worth it. Better to be safe than sorry. I’d rather people alert the officials when something might be wrong. You may disagree, and that’s fine.
Even MARTA is increasing the capability for commuters to stay on high alert. Piggy-backing on its on-going “See Something, Say Something” campaign, MARTA just released a “See & Say” app for mobile phones.
According to MARTA the app “is a free smartphone application that empowers customers to send texts and photos to the transit system’s police department about suspicious activity wherever and whenever their devices are in range of cellular service.”
To find the app for your device just search for the keywords “MARTA see and say.”
The question that remains to be answered is how long will we stay vigilant? How long will it be before we go back to not paying attention to our surroundings and noticing packages that are in places that shouldn’t be there? Hopefully we won’t have any more acts of terrorism that keep the reminder fresh in our heads, but I’m curious to see when things “get back to normal.”
The people at the finish line at the Boston Marathon last Monday thought everything was normal. They thought it was just another day.
But, what if the spectators watching the end of the Boston Marathon had been on heightened alert? What if they were more aware of their surroundings? Don’t you think that someone might have noticed two, unattended backpacks left on the ground? Maybe not, but I guarantee they would now.
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