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Date Posted: -11:21--pm, ------ 02/03/06 Fri
Author: Sportyangel
Subject:

Blah, blah, blah...yes, I'm bitter!

Security tightens in Detroit as game day approaches
By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Thousands of federal, state and local law enforcement officers have descended on Detroit to cast a security net over Super Bowl XL in one of the largest such efforts in U.S. history.

A U.S. Customs officer uses his dog to search a truck entering the area of Ford Field for explosives Wednesday.
By Bill Pugliano, Getty Images

Downtown Detroit � home to Ford Field, hotels packed with football fans and a range of Super Bowl events � is the focus of the most intense security. However, at a time when al-Qaeda's latest threat is still in the news, there are signs of increased security throughout the city � from the U.S. Coast Guard's patrols of the Detroit River to the plans police have drawn up with local hospitals. James Tate, second deputy chief of the Detroit police, says doctors will watch for signs of disease outbreaks that could be evidence of a biological attack.

At Ford Field, where Sunday's game will be played, U.S. agents searching for explosives and contraband are using gamma-ray scanners to check trucks entering the facility.

The U.S. Postal Service removed mailboxes this week from the downtown area near Ford Field, Tate says. The city has banned parking in the central business district to make room for crowds, prevent car bombings and keep roads clear for ambulances and police.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at bridges and tunnels linking Detroit with Windsor, Ontario, have beefed up staffing. They expect border crossings � normally 6,500 commercial trucks and 13,000 cars each day � to triple in the days surrounding the Super Bowl. Windsor is popular with tourists because it has casinos and many Super Bowl attractions.

Coast Guard dive teams and patrol boats are focusing on areas near the downtown waterfront that are hosting Super Bowl events, says Lt. Catherine Mellette, spokeswoman for the Coast Guard's Detroit sector.

"They're making sure no one has placed a bomb or anything that shouldn't be there," she says. Boats that enter a 1-mile-by-300-yard zone along the waterfront can be fined up to $32,000 a day.

Some Canadian border enforcement officers have been deputized so they can make arrests on either side of the border. "There are unique challenges to do a security operation with another country literally in view," says Marc Raimondi, spokesman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Department of Homeland Security has not designated the Super Bowl as a "National Special Security Event," which would trigger the use of radiation detectors, biological sensors and other tight security measures. In the post-9/11 era, such security generally is reserved for events such as a presidential inauguration.

Nevertheless, security forces and surveillance cameras will be everywhere in downtown Detroit. Fans entering the game will be checked by explosives-sniffing dogs, patted down by security personnel and scanned by a metal detector, Tate says.

ICE has run the names of 16,000 stadium workers, food vendors, limo drivers and others associated with the event through its databases to root out criminals, Raimondi says. ICE agents are cracking down on counterfeiters. Early this week, they seized 16,000 fake Super Bowl items in Detroit, he says.

Contributing: Tammy Audi of the Detroit Free Press and Mimi Hall

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Replies:

Seems it would've been easier... -- Pud, -12:34--am, ------ 02/04/06 Sat
- Oh whatever...lol -- Sportyangel, -11:35--pm, ------ 02/04/06 Sat
  - What a boring Sunday afternoon. I guess I'll take a nap. (NT) -- Pud, - 4:35--pm, ------ 02/05/06 Sun
    - I should have too actually... -- Sportyangel, -10:50--pm, ------ 02/05/06 Sun
      - Some kind of football game today I take it? (NT) -- Heretic, -11:15--pm, ------ 02/05/06 Sun
      - Better Luck Next Year -- Improve, - 5:36--am, ------ 02/06/06 Mon
        Oh I love my Colts...always will n/t (NT) -- Sportyangel, - 9:57--am, ------ 02/06/06 Mon