Police stress vigilance amid party atmosphere
Undercover cops will work the crowd and dump trucks will be used to block intersections during today’s Patriots victory parade, as police say they will be on watch early and have “zero tolerance” for boozing.
“We’ll have a lot of officers undercover, inside the crowd — obviously, it’s a different world,” said police Commissioner William Evans at a press conference yesterday. “And we’ll have plenty of uniformed officers out there, and we’ll be out there early.”
Evans did not say how many officers would be on patrol, but said the department would be out “in full force.” Mayor Martin J. Walsh estimated today’s crowd will be between 500,000 and 1 million people, and urged fans to reach out to officers on the scene if they see anything unusual as the parade makes its way from the Hynes Convention Center down to City Hall Plaza.
“If you see something that doesn’t seem right, grab somebody just to be safe,” Walsh said. “I’d rather err on the side of caution.”
This year’s route is similar to the parade in 2015, but dump trucks will be blocking intersections instead of barriers and mounted officers, Walsh said. He said he would not know the cost of the parade’s security, but said much of it would be covered by private contributions.
Evans encouraged rally watchers to keep luggage and backpacks that could draw suspicion at home, but said police will not search every bag. Those who do bring bags need to keep track of them at all times, he said.
“If you do bring a bag, please don’t leave it unattended; that only creates fear for people,” Evans said.
Evans said police would have “zero tolerance” for public drinking and would be cracking down on people seeking better views by scaling poles and other higher ground.
“In the past,” he said, “we’ve had accidents, people climbing on MBTA structures and flagpoles. We want to discourage that type of behavior.”