Boston police seek NYPD's tips on securing large crowds
NEW YORK Boston police will be coming to New York City to learn how to better protect people at big events, CBS New York station WCBS-TV reports.
Just over two weeks since the Boston Marathon bombings, Boston police are studying ways to improve security for upcoming events.
Boston's next major gathering is Independence Day on its Esplanade, where hundreds of thousands go to for an annual fireworks show.
Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald, the chief intelligence official for the Boston Police Department, said Boston police will be coming to New York to learn how the NYPD handles large crowds at high-risk events.
"We're heading to New York City to learn about the Times Square plan that they've put in place for New Year's Eve," Fitzgerald told CBS Boston station WBZ-TV. "Because, clearly, you know, that's a very high-risk event that they run there, and again they're so helpful to us that we're going to go down and see how they run that event."
Fitzgerald said he is interested in the elaborate partitioning system the NYPD uses to control massive crowds. He said a similar layout could be implemented for future events in Boston.
"I've always felt, and my department has, that Boston would be a primary target," Fitzgerald said.
As Boston police prepare for their next big events, CBS News has learned the suspected marathon bombers had originally intended for the plot to happen on July Fourth.
A U.S. official confirmed that detained suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told authorities that the bombing was supposed to take place on the Fourth of July, according to CBS News senior correspondent John Miller. The actual attack took place April 15.
The official also said that Tsarnaev revealed that the bombs were constructed at his older brother Tamerlan's residence and that Tamerlan had brought Dzhokhar into the plot a couple of months before.
The official noted that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had said different things at different times and that it is all subject to investigation, CBS News correspondent Elaine Quijano reports.
Meanwhile, a funeral home has claimed the body Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a gunbattle with police.
The funeral home was retained by Tsarnaev's family and picked up the 26-year-old's remains Thursday, Department of Public Safety spokesman Terrel Harris said.
The attorney of Tsarnaev's widow, Katherine Russell, said she wanted the body turned over to her husband's side of the family.