Rochester, NY - As the United States raised the terrorist alert level to orange--the “high” level, New York State Governor George Pataki activated the state’s emergency communication center in Albany and the New York State National Guard. Monroe County security officers are also taking unprecedented steps.
Since September 11, Monroe County has also been known as Zone 16. Minutes after the federal government increased its level of terror alert, it faxed that information to the local 911 center.
Greece Police Chief Merritt Rahn, Zone 16’s liaison, was the first to be alerted.
Rahn said, “The threat here, what we’re told is a ‘soft alert.’ [That means] they’re going to try to hit soft targets. So we immediately notified all the police cars in the county.”
The alert was sent to mobile data terminals in patrol cars belonging to every local police agency.
In Greece, police officers were immediately dispatched to warn the “soft targets” most at risk--local hotels shopping centers and restaurants--in person.
With the outcome of the last terrorist alert in mind, Greece police officers now carry gas masks and bio hazard suits.
The last time the country went to orange alert it was based on intelligence communications involving an alleged sleeper cell, which we now know was located in Lackawanna, NY--very close to the Rochester area.
While the national alert was downgraded after the arrest of the so-called “Lackawanna Six,” the opposite was true in Rochester.
Rochester’s joint terrorist task force reports that they have received more than 100 tips a week.
Sgt. Mark Concordia, who is on the task force said, “We’ve bolstered the number of investigators and every lead is followed up,” he said.
The lessons learned from the first orange alert and the subsequent arrest of the Lackawanna Six has given the Rochester community an edge when it comes to being prepared as local communication channels, for both alerting and sharing information, have already been put to the test.
Officials said that citizens should do two things: go on with their normal lives and keep their eyes open.