More than 2 million spectators are expected this weekend as the Sail Boston regatta brings more than 50 tall ships from 14 countries into Boston Harbor. And — as the shooting Wednesday morning at a congressional baseball practice renews concerns about public safety — city, state and federal officials say they’re working to ensure the event’s security.
“Obviously we’re taking a lot of safety precautions like we do with the Marathon," said Boston Police Commissioner William Evans. "You know, we’re going to have checkpoints that people are going to have to pass through, all the way from South Boston to East Boston. So we ask you to cooperate. Don’t bring backpacks, don’t bring coolers, don’t bring things that are going to slow down the process of you moving into a particular area.”
City police will be joined by specially trained state troopers in plain clothes, who will mix with the crowd looking for suspicious activity, and 100 FBI agents will be on hand.
If you see something, just call. Just grab somebody, there's going to be plenty of public safety officials there.
Hank Shaw, Special Agent in charge of the Boston FBI office said his team made efforts to "harden" so-called "soft targets" like the designated areas where spectators will view the ships — making them more difficult to attack.
"The reality of the world we're dealing with today is that we do the best we can to harden as much as possible, to be able to allow the public to have really a safe viewing experience," he said. "But the reality behind what we're confronted with is that any potential area could be vulnerable."
Mayor Marty Walsh says the plan makes him feel Boston is safe.
“Now that doesn’t mean that something can’t happen," Walsh said. "All it means is that we have no threats today. What I would ask the public to do, is if you see something, just call. Just grab somebody, there’s going to be plenty of public safety officials there. Or call 911. We will pursue every single lead or every single concern that people might have.”
The event has been given a special federal security designation typically reserved for national spectacles, like the Super Bowl, because of its size and complexity, not because of any specific threat.
At a press conference on Sail Boston security, Gov. Charlie Baker reacted to the shooting Wednesday morning in Alexandria, Va. that injured Rep. Steve Scalise and four others. Walsh said the annual baseball game between Democrats and Republicans that they were practicing for is something that brings both sides together. And he said there’s no excuse — regardless of the heated partisan political dialogue — for what happened.
“Congressman Scalise, by all accounts, is a partisan, but he’s also someone who everybody on both sides of the aisle likes as a person," Walsh said. "And the Capitol police who were involved in this, including the ones who were wounded, did heroic duty today to make sure it wasn’t worse than it might have been. And certainly, I think, the most important lesson in all of this, is that continued vigilance matters.”
