(Bloomberg News) -- Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney introduced an advertising campaign asking riders of the state’s 16 transit systems to report any suspicious activity or packages in an effort to prevent terrorist attacks against buses and trains.
The program, called Transit Watch, instructs riders to call transit or local police if they see anything suspicious and not directly intervene, Romney said in a speech at Boston’s South Station, the city’s busiest commuter rail stop.
“The bottom line is if you see something, say something,’' Romney said echoing the program’s slogan.
This is the first program of its kind in the U.S., Romney said. Since the terrorist bombings of commuter trains in Madrid, there has been a heightened awareness that such attacks could happen in the U.S., Romney said. The U.S. office of Homeland Security has issued warnings to the states that trains and buses could be potential targets, he added.
Today’s announcement has nothing to do with the upcoming Democratic Convention, scheduled to take place at Boston’s FleetCenter from July 26 to July 29, and was not prompted by the additional security concerns it might raise, Jodi Charles, a spokeswoman for Romney, said in an interview after the event.
“This has to do with Madrid,’' Charles said. People in Massachusetts need to abandon their cultural upbringing of minding their own business and pay attention to wider concerns, she said.
About 45,000 commuter rail riders use South Station every day, and about 20,500 people use the subway located there.
Security Plan
The U.S. Secret Service issued a security plan last month for the convention. Boston’s North Station commuter rail hub, which shares the FleetCenter building, will be closed from July 23 to July 30. Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority commuter rail trains, as well as Amtrak’s service to Portland, Maine, will use stations outside of the city, Ann Roman, Secret Service spokeswoman, has said.
North Station is used by about 25,000 commuters per day. The Secret Service wouldn’t elaborate on why the station will be closed longer than the convention is scheduled to run.
Interstate 93, which comes within 40 feet of the convention site, also will be closed on the nights the Democrats are in session, Roman has said.
Suspicious Activity
In the weeks following the Madrid bombing there have been numerous reports of suspicious activity on buses and trains run by the MBTA, the nation’s fourth largest transit authority. On at least one occasion, commuter rail service was briefly interrupted while police checked out a suspicious package.
“We’re engaging the public to bring anything like that to our attention,’' said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.
MBTA police check unattended packages, luggage and backpacks regularly, he said. The MBTA is made up of 175 cities and towns and sees, on average, 1.1 million riders per day on its trains, buses and subways, Pesaturo said.
Romney said he was incredulous of the effectiveness of an awareness program when he was first presented with the idea. He said aides told him that people were saved at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 when security guard Richard Jewell spotted a backpack and helped evacuate the area. While the bombing wasn’t prevented, calling attention to the backpack and getting people away from it saved lives.
Following his remarks, Romney handed out brochures to commuters arriving in the station. The brochures suggest looking out for people who are visibly nervous, excessively sweating, carrying spray bottles or aerosol canisters and wearing clothing that is too baggy or too heavy in warm weather.
Commuters also should watch for people abandoning packages in a hurry and packages that have exposed batteries, wires or are giving off strange odors or vapors, the brochure said.