A day-long symposium on the lessons learned from the Boston Marathon bombing wrapped at Boston University on Monday— attended by law enforcement officials, politicians, academicians, media and victims of the tragedy.

Former Mayor Thomas Menino, now a co-director of BU’s Initiatives on Cities, set the tone for the symposium by praising the overall response to last year’s shocking events.

"What can we do everyday to protect the needs of our cities to help us prepare and get ready for whatever event happens in the future? What I do know is no city will be able to manage a crisis without the strength of its people."

It was a familiar, emotional, and well-received theme. But several critical questions relative to the Shelter in Place order issued after the Watertown shootout and manhunt were not addressed at the symposium.

Those questions included: How did Tsarnaev elude police for so long in Watertown? Why did police fire volleys of shots at the suspect while he was hiding unarmed in a boat in the backyard of a Watertown residence? And did self assignment by hundreds of police in Watertown lead to greater chaos?

Governor Deval Patrick in his address spoke of the hundreds of officers who responded to the scene who he described as a model of restraint:

"And as one State Trooper who works with me said, ‘Any one of them would have gladly put a bullet in the suspect,’ yet when the order was given to hold their fire they held their  fire. And when the suspect was placed on a gurney and wheeled out past all of them, not one gesture of disrespect was shown.  The restraint of law enforcement in circumstances like that was a thing to behold and a thing to admire."

As part of the lessons learned, Patrick also commented on the controversial Shelter in Place policy, and said that contrary to popular belief, citizens were never ordered to stay indoors. 

"Asked.  We didn’t order.  It was never reported that way, but we didn’t order. We asked.  And, frankly, it was an amazing thing and a helpful thing that people on whole complied."

Ken Feinberg, the administrator of One Fund Boston, addressed some lessons in sober terms.

"There are some valuable lessons to be learned.  Unfortunately, human nature being what it is, we’ll likely have a repeat of some tragedy in some city somewhere around the United States.  It goes with the territory."
Feinberg pointed out that other cities around the country could learn one valuable instruction from Boston: how to set up a successful fund with private money to respond to the needs of victims.

"Virginia Tech.  Horrible, horrible tragedy.  A deranged student gunman killed 32 faculty and students—$7 million.  Aurora, Colorado- Governor Hickenlooper a strong supporter—$5 million.  Boston- $60 million," he said.

And he predicted that such financial dispensation will likely be needed again somewhere in America because of the reality of terrorism.

A panel on the role of business addressed another issue that has come up in the aftermath of the bombing: the limitations of business and private homeowners insurance in covering those impacted by the tragedy.   

Overall, all of the panelists were in agreement that the lessons learned by businesses, first responders and media will prove to be instructive--  with the Boston Marathon just weeks away.