iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Cities across the U.S. are heightening security after a series of deadly incidents abroad, including an attack in Berlin where a truck plowed into a crowd at a busy Christmas market.
Additional police officers are being deployed in both New York and Chicago, with particular emphasis on crowded public areas and holiday gatherings. Both cities cautioned that the increased presence of law enforcement was a preventative measure and that no specific threat was received.
“The NYPD is monitoring the events in Germany and around the world today,” the New York Police Department said in a statement Monday. “The Department has moved highly trained teams, including the Critical Response Command, to high-profile locations around New York City.”
In a statement, the Chicago Police Department noted that it is “adding police resources to Daley Plaza including additional foot and bike patrols and specialized units.” Daley Plaza, located in the Loop, a busy commercial neighborhood in the city, hosts a holiday marketplace of its own.
In Berlin Monday evening, 11 people were killed after a truck plowed through Breitscheidplatz, a public square in the city hosting a Christmas market. A 12th victim was discovered dead in the cabin of the truck and at least 48 others were injured. German Chancellor Angela Merkel later said, “We must assume that it was a terrorist attack.”
The incident capped a deadly day as earlier on Monday, the Russian ambassador to Turkey was assassinated at a museum in the Turkish capital of Ankara by a man who appeared to be protesting Russia’s involvement in the Syrian civil war. Also on Monday, three people were wounded after a gunman opened fire at an Islamic center in Zurich, Switzerland.
American intelligence officials noted the possibility of holiday celebrations being targeted by terrorist organizations in a memo distributed earlier this year.
In a joint intelligence bulletin distributed by the FBI and Department of Homeland Security on Nov. 18, “law enforcement, military, and security personnel” are reminded “to remain vigilant and aware of upcoming public and private events this holiday season and during the presidential inauguration.”
“We continue to monitor threats with an unspecified attack date emanating from foreign terrorist organizations … in the event that these groups advance their plotting efforts in the near-term to coincide with the holidays,” reads part of the bulletin. “Based on historical precedence during past holiday seasons and presidential transition periods, we expect to see an increase in threat reporting between now and the end of January 2017.”
Law enforcement in New York and Chicago, as well as the Boston Police Department and Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., all indicated that they would continue to monitor events in Berlin and throughout the world as they continue to prepare for any possible residual impact in each of their respective cities.
The New York Police Department noted that it “will look to learn more about what occurred to inform [its] operations, deployments, and training of officers.”
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