Pier searches to continue
More than half a dozen members of the Santa Monica Police Department conducted random searches of vehicles entering here on Tuesday.
Police spokesman Lt. Frank Fabrega, who didn’t say the SMPD was acting on a specific threat, said police were continuing efforts that began this past summer that are designed to thwart potential acts of terrorism in Santa Monica.
To maximize the effectiveness of such efforts, the searches will continue indefinitely, Fabrega said.
An estimated $2 million in security upgrades were approved after the Santa Monica Police informed the public in August that a citizen on July 3 spotted three men, all of Middle Eastern descent, suspiciously videotaping specific areas of the pier, including access roads and the SMPD’s police substation.
Based on intelligence from other agencies, the same men were seen this summer videotaping bridges and piers along the Southern California coast. Another agency confirmed that the same individuals were seen videotaping at the 2003 Academy Awards.
That prompted officials to make preemptive changes to the city’s security systems to further protect the public from the threat of a terrorist attack.
SMPD has added four overtime police officers and reconfigured the observation posts at the pier. Security has been increased underneath the pier and surrounding the structure’s pilings. The SMPD has also been in the process of training and hiring additional K-9 officers with bomb-sniffing dogs. The dogs cost $5,000 a piece, and the specially trained officers command about $100,000 a year in salary.
Third Street Promenade is also seeing an increase in security, including the installation of security cameras, to be placed throughout the downtown area and the pier once a company is hired. Signs will be posted throughout the Bayside District indicating that there are cameras rolling. The cost of the surveillance system is estimated at $1.1 million.
The citizen who spotted the men on the pier this summer noticed their behavior because they weren’t videotaping each other as tourists do. The men were instead seen acting as “look-outs” while another man videotaped. The citizen photographed the individuals from a distance and held onto the images. Then, after the terrorist attacks occurred in London on July 7, the citizen contacted the SMPD on July 22.
It wasn’t until July 26 that the citizen handed the photos of the men over to the SMPD. The next day, the SMPD shared the photos with state and federal agencies.
When the SMPD distributed a flyer to state and federal authorities about the suspicious activity, two agencies informed Santa Monica police that they had been in contact with the individuals in recent months. Those agencies intercepted video footage from the individuals that contained images from Universal City Walk and the Santa Monica Pier.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 11, 2006. Read the original PDF.