Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Law enforcement agencies say they are always trying to prevent a terror attack through planning. Erie County Sheriff John Garcia says he and other law enforcement officials will learn from what happened New Year's morning in New Orleans.
"This is something that we and everybody else in law enforcement is afraid of occurring throughout the whole year," said Garcia in an interview with WBEN.
According to Garcia, the key to avoiding incidents like what happened in New Orleans is preparation. When it comes to festivals or events, the Sheriff's Office helps secure some 100 events each year that could be a target for any kind of attack.
"How do you prevent cars slamming into people at these events, like we saw unfortunately in Vegas? And we've seen at the Kansas City Super Bowl parade, and we've seen across the country, in Europe?" ponders Garcia.
Garcia always hopes for the best and braces for the worst when preparing for these types of events, and will learn from what happened in New Orleans.
Preparation to secure events aren't always made public.
"We think outside the box. What would somebody do in a situation to harm people, and we have to put ourselves in their shoes and imagine each and every scenario, and then try to ensure that we stop that from occurring," Garcia said.
In New Orleans, Dave Cohen from our sister station WWL says there was a sense of shock when news of the attack broke early into 2025.
"Ever since 9/11, New Orleans is heard over-and-over - every Mardi Gras, every Super Bowl, every major event that we host, which is what New Orleans does - that New Orleans is a terrorist target. And we've heard it every single event, and police have acted in a manner such as to try and protect against any attacks. They've not happened until now," said Cohen with WBEN.
Next on New Orleans' major event calendar is the Super Bowl on Feb. 9 at the Caesars Superdome. The Crescent City hosted the first Super Bowl after 9/11, and security was tight then, under the direction of the federal government.
"The Secret Service had taken over security and had created, for the first time ever for a sporting event, this massive security perimeter with concrete blockades and control the access and everything else," Cohen recalled.
This time around, New Orleans is, again, going to have to make sure there will be unprecedented levels of security.
"I would be very surprised if the security perimeter around the Superdome isn't half a mile to a full mile, where access will be restricted to pedestrians only, without very specific credentials and escorts," Cohen added. "It will be metal detectors, there will be bomb sniffing dogs. There will be a whole cadre of security measures, some we've seen before. And probably, at this point, some we have not fearing copycats may try to expose any vulnerabilities that may exist."