Washington — About 750 toes above the nation’s capital, a brand-new state-of-the-art D.C. Police helicopter might be in sky over Monday’s inauguration.
What will pilot Jeff Hertel be searching for?
“The totally different crowd parameters and crowd management,” Hertel instructed CBS News. “And suspicious automobiles, perhaps, exterior the perimeter space, bigger vans and stuff, be sure that there’s folks with them.”
Hertel says being within the skies offers legislation enforcement “the flexibility to see distances.”
“You can see a automotive working quick, you possibly can see, like, a rooftop at night time to see if there is a burglar on prime, or if he has a weapon,” he stated.
Although the inauguration ceremony for President-elect Donald Trump was moved into the extremely fortified and secured U.S. Capitol due to forecasts calling for extreme cold, helicopters will nonetheless be a key device because the inaugural parade additionally strikes indoors, to Capitol One Arena within the coronary heart of D.C. that may host about 20,000 folks.
D.C. Police may also be looking ahead to crowds, as a lot of those that would have gone to the National Mall are anticipated to nonetheless collect throughout the town.
The helicopter’s on-board cameras can learn a license plate from 1,000 toes up, sending again stay video to the division’s actual time crime middle.
“It offers us the chance to actually see what’s occurring throughout the town, particularly in giant crowds,” D.C. Police Chief Pamela Smith instructed CBS News.
Smith stated that the New Orleans truck attack which killed 14 folks, and the Tesla Cybertruck bombing exterior a Trump lodge in Las Vegas — each of which occurred on New Year’s Day — has stored legislation enforcement on excessive alert.
“Anytime there’s, I’ll say, homegrown home terrorism…it at all times makes us heighten our safety efforts,” Smith stated.
When requested what’s retaining her up at night time going into inauguration day, the police chief responded: “The indisputable fact that there might be lone wolf stuff on the market, copycats which are on the market.”
While official inauguration occasions are indoors, D.C. Police stay on excessive alert for violent protests exterior the secured space, similar to those in 2017 the place tons of had been arrested round Trump’s first inauguration. Eight years later, Smith says to count on extra officers patrolling neighborhoods.
“We need folks to return and protest, however we is not going to permit any kind of violence in our metropolis,” Smith stated.
