Cynthia Hodges
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s TSA Visible Intermodal Prevention Response (VIPR) teams have been reported in Spokane, WA for the holiday weekend, making security sweeps through STA buses and the downtown plaza where they will continue scaring Spokane Transit passengers through Monday.
Spokane Transit Authority’s communications officer, Molly Myers told a local news station that VIPR are conducting training exercises as a ‘precautionary measure’ for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
A TSA spokeswoman Lorie Dankers, said VIPR teams are there to deter riders from doing harm.
On the morning of last year’s Martin Luther King Jr day parade a suspicious backpack was spotted by three contractors along the parade route in Spokane Washington. FBI officials determined the backpack contained a bomb described as very lethal and “capable of inflicting multiple casualties.”
The Spokane parade was scheduled to begin at 10 a.m, but a half hour before it could, police recieved a call about a suspicious backpack on a bench at the northeast corner of North Washington Street and West Main Avenue in downtown Spokane.
An FBI official said it was no coincidence that the bomb was planted on MLK day, at the location along the parade route at the particular spot.
Organizers of Monday’s MLK parade are calling for an extra-large turnout, to send a message of unity to others with extremist views.
Read more:
http://www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-chicago/tsa-vipr-teams-have-a-dream-too
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