Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Widespread preparations continue for the Total Solar Eclipse set to sweep through Western New York come Monday, April 8.
This includes local law enforcement officials, who continue to meet with fellow agencies and other local leaders to come up with a game plan to ensure the safety of people who may be taking in the once in a lifetime celestial event as part of large gatherings in less than nine weeks.
"We're pretty used to large scale events. We have parades, festivals and other things, so it's just a matter of getting the same people together in a room, talk about what's going on, talk about the volume of people we're looking at, the areas they're going to be in, what challenges," said Buffalo Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia in an interview with WBEN. "We look at intelligence reports, we're looking at different things to see what challenge might come. The tough part is, you can plan for things, but it's hard to plan for the unknown. So you have to plan for the unknown, and you have to have manpower and contingency plans, and have yourself ready to react in the event that something does happen."
At the time Niagara County Sheriff Michael Filicetti first heard about the Total Solar Eclipse, he admits it really didn't get onto his radar until the more he talked with the county's emergency manager and got a better understanding of how this could be a very, very big event.
"We're hearing other places that have had the solar eclipse saw hundreds of thousands of people, so right away, you start thinking large crowds, lots of vehicles on the roadway, planned events, maybe unplanned events that we don't know about. It starts to certainly get you thinking about what we need to do as a county, working with municipalities," said Filicetti in a discussion with WBEN. "So we've had planning meetings to have those discussions start to see how we're gonna address this large influx into the county."
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In the City of Niagara Falls, Police Chief Nick Ligammari says his meetings have been with agencies like the Niagara County Sheriff's Office, New York State Police, New York State Parks police, and others have centered around the possibility for a massive influx of people coming to town for a couple of days for the eclipse.
"As far as I understand, there's going to be a large crowd, we anticipate a large gathering of people. And with that comes traffic issues and all the rest of it," said Ligammari with WBEN. "So at this point, we intend to continue to meet, we have a few more meetings planned to actually shore up some of our current plans, and continue to change things as needed."
As for those with New York State Police, the preparations to ensure the safety and well-being of others come the Total Solar Eclipse comes with a much broader stroke, extending through parts of Western and Central New York, as well as the North Country.
"When we look at April 8 for this eclipse, it's about a two-hour span, from 2-to-4 o'clock. About quarter after 3 p.m. for about four minutes, you have the complete darkness, the totality of this eclipse. We want to make this as safe as possible, and everyone has a little different role," said Trooper Jim O'Callaghan in an interview with WBEN.
New York State Police will be heavily focused this April 8 on the safety of those on the roadways, and are turning to past practice and things that have happened in other places with similar events.
"We don't want people looking at the eclipse while they're driving their car, because it's obviously a big issue, but also parking their cars in spots that are unsafe - Thruways, interstates, partially parked in the roadway. And if you have other people not paying attention to driving, that's where the issue comes in with traffic safety," O'Callaghan said. "That's why we're working with other agencies to get the word out with traffic arrow boards, messaging boards, things like that. That's just one aspect of a multitude of different aspects that you can look at, but each agency brings something to the table."
It has been widely speculated for months now that the number of people coming into Western New York for the Total Solar Eclipse could surpass the 1 million mark, even if forecasts leading up to the eclipse are calling for cloudier conditions that may not allow for prime viewing opportunities.
Where the large number of people arriving to the region becomes challenging for law enforcement officials is trying to determine where people will be gathering, and the sheer size of the gatherings taking place.
"You're still trying to identify where people are going to take in the eclipse, where they're going to be at. Are they going to be at the Outer Harbor? Are they going to be at different locations, and how is that going to work out? We're hoping to nail some of that down, where some of these larger gatherings are going to be, and we're involving a lot more people at the table to help us with that," Gramaglia said. "It also takes leveraging those relationships that we have - the other local officials, police departments, county, state, federal, everybody. Those are the relationships that we have forged over the many, many years, and we're all working together."
In Niagara Falls, Chief Ligammari is presented with a number of possible locations for people to view the eclipse, which can be a challenge when divvying up patrols.
"We have the Falls, which is the State Parks, and they're expecting a large gathering of people. But I also have to deal with the city itself in all the different locations that could possibly also have gatherings of people, our local citizens," Ligammari explained. "It does present a problem with manpower, and how to gear your manpower towards the different areas."
Sheriff Filicetti says there's an additional challenge that he has to set an additional focus on heading into the April 8 eclipse.
"We looked at the waterways. We've learned people like to go out on the water, even though it's going to be April, it's going to be cold. They go on the water, so now we have to make sure we have marine resources out there," he said.
As for State Police, O'Callaghan anticipates the arrival of additional patrols and people in-and-around the area to assist not only on the roadways, but other venues like state parks, or different areas in which more people are going to be at.
O'Callaghan feels the unknowns with the multiple gatherings for the Total Solar Eclipse is a double-edged sword when trying to providing that security presence.
"This is spread out, which, in turn, works in the favor of law enforcement. Being spread out, you might not have such a congregation of packed areas that you would like in a Nik Wallenda case. Being more spread out, a lot more people are going to use their backyards, a lot more people are going to just do things from their house. But then you have the transient people that come in. So where do they go? Do they do the hotel or wherever they're staying parking lot? Are they going to go to a state park? Are they going to go in-and-around bigger areas? Who knows. There's a lot of different scenarios that play into this," O'Callaghan said.
While there may not be any one particular larger gathering in place for the Total Solar Eclipse in Western New York, the shooting on Wednesday at the Kansas City Chiefs' Super Bowl celebration will now put security at such events in the spotlight.
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As law enforcement officials take all sorts of precautions when it comes to events of all sizes, some will admit the events of Wednesday's shooting in Kansas City will add another wrinkle into preparations.
"It gets you thinking just to make sure you have everyone being diligent and watching out for things," Ligammari admitted. "Even the citizens, not just the officers. If you're out and you see something, make sure you tell the local authorities."
Sheriff Filicetti says the possibility of incidents like what happened Wednesday at the Chiefs' Super Bowl parade are always in the forefront of his mind, as well as other chiefs in Niagara County and other law enforcement leaders.
"That is always your concern when you get a large group of people together, that something like that could happen. A soft target, essentially. So you have to be prepared to make sure that you can monitor those areas, that you have adequate forces to deploy should something happen. Those are certainly a concern, and it's something that's part of our planning process," Filicetti said.
Meanwhile, Commissioner Gramaglia feels what happened Wednesday in Kansas City can't make anyone think differently when it comes to any preparations for large scale events like the Total Solar Eclipse. It's something that should be part of the planning process you take into account.
"If you look at what happened yesterday, and I'm just going off of the news reports, you actually saw where some citizens jumped into action, but what you also saw was a significant number of police officers running to the gunfire, running to the danger. You obviously plan to prevent something from happening, that's ultimately what we want, but you really plan that something is going to happen, and how quickly can you stop whatever it is that is happening," Gramaglia noted. "Through the citizen involvement and police involvement, they put a stop to it as quick as they humanly could, but those are the things you train for."
Trooper O'Callaghan says it's common for New York State Police to deal with and assist in high capacity events. This includes in the City of Buffalo with the upcoming St. Patrick's Day parade in just a few weeks
"That's obviously one of the bigger venues here in Buffalo, but that's what we do. We put extra manpower and extra things toward those, people in uniform, people out of uniform or working together with local law enforcement agencies, even the federal government. And that's our goal, to make it as safe as possible so people can enjoy these things," O'Callaghan said. "Now, you can't always quarterback everything, but we try to do our best with the means and the tools that we have."
So what's the message from law enforcement in the remaining weeks leading up to the Total Solar Eclipse on April 8?
O'Callaghan reminds people to remain alert and aware on the roadways, and be mindful of others around you.
"Put yourself in a safe position. Obviously we're going to have law enforcement, we're going to have different first responders in-and-around different areas, depending on what the population would look like. But just have a good, safe time, and we will definitely be upping patrols and upping our message as far as that Total Eclipse coming into play in April," O'Callaghan said.
Sheriff Filicetti advises anyone if they need to head outside the home on that Monday, plan ahead and have a course of action for the day.
"I would say if you do not plan to attend any of these events, you're a resident here in the county, maybe plan ahead so you're not out on that Monday trying to go get gas in your car, or go get your food supplies or prescriptions. Try to maybe plan ahead a little bit. We just don't know what kind of traffic we're going to be dealing with, what kind of volume of people, incidents. I don't want people that are just trying to go about their business to be caught up in this," Filicetti said.
As for the cities of Niagara Falls and Buffalo, both Ligammari and Gramaglia want everyone to enjoy their time, and be assured that law enforcement will be around to ensure as safe of a viewing experience as possible.
"We're going to be out in force on that day, but we want everyone to enjoy themselves. Just go out and have a good time, and see this once in a lifetime event," Ligammari said. "But try to do it orderly, and be cognizant of your neighbors and the people around you so everyone can have a good time."
"Know that your police department, your fire department, your EMS workers, all across the board have been talking. We plan, we train, we're ready for this," Gramaglia added. "We've got the St. Patrick's Day parade coming up before that, and that takes a significant amount of planning. We're very prepared for these, we're good at planning these large gathering, and we've got a very dedicated police force that's going to be out there to make sure that everybody is safe and enjoys themselves."