See Something, Say Something

With news breaking this morning (5/4) that the FBI has a suspect in custody in the failed Times Square car bomb, we in the Disaster Preparedness Department are now comfortable in turning our focus to the "teachable moment" that that this situation has provided to us. For those not aware of what I'm talking about, on Saturday evening, May 1, the suspect in this case is accused of attempting to detonate a home made bomb in which he allegedly built into a 1993 Nissan Pathfinder. The Pathfinder was then parked on a busy New York City street, in front of a theater that was showing the Lion King.

While the above details of this situation are important, the teachable moment comes from a New York City street vendor. The street vendor was the first to notice the Pathfinder was filling with smoke and alerted a New York City Police Officer.

We spend a great deal of time in our Department training volunteers on how to respond to natural and man-made disasters. During these trainings we provide our volunteers with magnets that say "See Something, Say Something" and contact information for the Columbus Terrorism Early Warning Group. Perhaps we should consider implementing See Something, Say Something awareness into all of our trainings, it has been proven effective.

We would encourage all of our readers, if you see a suspicious package or something out of place, do not hesitate to contact the closest law enforcement agency.