Salem Revisits Public Safety Protocols for City Events Following New Orleans Attack
The City of Salem, Massachusetts, is reviewing its public safety protocols for major public events.
This review comes after the New Year’s Day tragedy in New Orleans, where an individual used a motor vehicle to kill 14 people and injure dozens of others who gathered on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter to celebrate the holiday.
The deadly attack in New Orleans has heightened concerns about public safety at events in Salem, where the community’s Halloween-themed “Haunted Happenings” events regularly attract close to 100,000 people each October.
In a media release obtained by NBC10 Boston, Salem Mayor Dominick Pangallo and Police Chief Lucas Miller said the city is studying its current public security practices and will implement new measures to protect visitors and residents.
“The starkest lesson seems to be that while New Orleans enacted very similar measures to Salem to keep people on the street safe, the assailant was able to simply drive around barriers, either because mechanical bollards were out of service or because he drove on the sidewalk,” Pangallo and Miller wrote. “Another lesson is that while Mardi Gras would be the most likely event for an attack in New Orleans, any well-attended event is a target.”
During the busy fall season, Salem boosts its security detail and implements public safety protocols such as deploying additional police and trained law enforcement officers to cover high-traffic areas, rerouting traffic, and creating pedestrian-only spaces.
Following its review, Salem officials say they will hire an outside consultant to examine existing public safety protocols and evaluate its police staffing capacity for October events. Additionally, leaders says they intend to move up the timeline for installing security barriers known as bollards to better secure pedestrian areas.
For centuries, Salem has occupied a prominent place in American history and literature through its association with the infamous Salem witch trials of the 17th century.