Scary incidents in New Orleans and Las Vegas this week have raised concerns among local authorities coast to coast, and in the Capital Region.
In light of the apparent New Year’s terrorist attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Albany County Executive Dan McCoy is urging law enforcement agencies at all levels to work directly with county executives to enhance safety measures for high-profile gatherings.
McCoy is a board member of the National Association of Counties.
"We got to continue to strive to do better, and we got to keep thinking outside the box, and that's being informed of what's going on around [the world] not just United States," said McCoy. "And I bring up to your listeners, what's happened in this world? Because it's just not here. For some reason, this next generation is just, you know, I've never seen it. It's scary to me, you know, as a leader, what's the disconnect? And we don't have time to study this for years. We need to figure this out now."
McCoy says he'll be contacting officials in surrounding counties in hopes of collaborating together in a partnership, scheduling sessions to keep abreast of any threats and the latest law enforcement strategies and technologies to prevent attacks in public spaces.
"It's the conversations I've had with Steve McLaughlin, the County Executive in Rensselaer, Rory Fluman, at times, Steve Bulger, up in Saratoga, that we have to start meeting again on a quarterly basis and talk about stuff like this. You know, one of the things I'll say Steve McLaughlin, thinking outside the box, said, ‘Hey, why can't we just have one SWAT team or one negotiation team, Capital District approach to things, or working with the State Police saves money, better resources, better training.’ These are things that we talk about," McCoy said.
Victor Asal is a Professor of Political Science at the University at Albany who studies terrorism. He says it’s important to realize that extremist events have been increasing in the United States, and they've been coming from different directions in terms of ideology, individuals and organizations. He thinks there should be more effort to try to identify these people before these attacks can happen and believes McCoy is on the right path.
"There's nothing wrong with trying to figure out the best proactive responses, OK? But let's be clear," Asal said, "there are certain kinds of attacks that are very hard to respond to before the attack goes unless you have the information that the attack is going to happen. For example, if you're driving a car next to a plaza where an event is happening, how am I supposed to know that you're planning to drive that car into the event, right? And if, if state or local governments start putting checkpoints everywhere, that is not going to work in the United States. I think one of the challenges is, it's one thing if somebody who's doing this is part of an organization, because organizations are much more easy to identify than an individual, and if somebody is simply motivated by ideology and anger as an individual, it's much harder to figure out who they are. And the government is working to, these agencies are working to try and figure that out more, but it is a big challenge."
McCoy says county executives are planning to meet in February at the University of Maryland to discuss significant issues, focusing on collaboration and information sharing. Meantime, he's calling for increased public awareness and asking community members to report any suspicious activities.
"If you see something, and you know you're in that same community and you realize something's out of place, pick up the phone and say something," said McCoy.
