'We Are Aware Of Threats': Local Law Enforcement Assessing Risks Following FBI Warning
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) — Los Angeles Police Department Chief Michel Moore Tuesday said the department has deployed additional personnel to ensure safety.
"We are aware of threats and tips and leads involving targeting of state Capitols on the 17th of January as well as events on the 20th of January," Moore said.
The statement came the day after investigators with the Federal Bureau of Investigation warned law enforcement across the nation that a number of groups were calling for the "storming" of federal, state and local courthouses.
And while LAPD and the FBI said there were no known credible threats to the Los Angeles area, departments in the region — including the Beverly Hills Police Department which put out a video Tuesday — said they were assessing risks and were in communication with local and state officials.
State Sen. Henry Stern, D-Los Angeles, who plans to introduce legislation focused on white nationalist movements and domestic terrorism, said state buildings were being surveyed.
"Currently, I think our state office buildings and local government facilities are being surveyed," he said. "That's the sense we got, is that they're looking for weak spots in our system, so we've got to basically do counterterrorism."
And former FBI special agent Rick Smith said the best thing local, state and federal law enforcement agencies could do to prepare is to have all available resources ready to use to prevent a repeat of last week's Capitol insurrection.
"The thing that you have to do, the key to this whole thing, is to have overwhelming force," he said. "You don't want to be in a situation where you're 30 people and there's 5,000 people coming over the hill."