CAMDEN, NJ (KYW Newsradio) — The Delaware River Port Authority has some extra tools in its arsenal to help keep crowds safe during big events.
The DRPA has purchased 16 anti-vehicle ramming devices designed to block cars from speeding into crowded events, such as the Ben to The Shore Bike Tour or the Run the Bridge 10K.
Reports from around the world of attacks using vehicles prompted the DRPA to look at its security tactics.
“Crowd ramming has become, I guess, a way for extremists to carry out certain agendas,” said Robert Finnegan, the DRPA’s chief security and safety officer.
“We’ve used attenuators, trash trucks, tractor-trailers in some cases to protect areas or cordon off areas. But sometimes that’s just not feasible.”
The 700-pound devices have wheels and can be moved by a single person. Staffers were trained last month on how to position the vehicle blockers.
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“They’re an L-shaped device that, basically, when a vehicle of pretty much any size would hit it or run into it, it will flip itself over,” Finnegan said. “It jams itself into the asphalt or concrete, as well as up underneath the undercarriage of the vehicle, which immobilizes the vehicle.”
DRPA Police Chief Edward Cobbs said that, through this, they want to make sure they protect their patrons.
“This is just an additional effort, or additional resource that we’re using.”
A Homeland Security grant funded 75% of the $190,000 cost, with the DRPA paying for the remainder.