A crisis anywhere in 2015 is a crisis everywhere — even in the Little Apple.
Riley County Police Department Assistant Director told Riley County Commissioners Thursday morning that his department — like the rest of the country — is on alert as the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, France, have put the threat of ISIS back in the global spotlight.
Doehling, though, admitted the RCPD took steps just before the Paris tragedy.
“It was coincidental that just shortly before the Paris incident we made a decision that we were going to do more to safeguard public events,” he said. “We started with the Veterans Day parade. We won’t tell you exactly what we did for that, but we have plans in the works to prioritize all the public events we become aware of.”
Doehling said he doesn’t want to cause alarm for the sake of it.
“We realize that we’re going to have to be a little cautious,” he said. “We don’t want to create a lot of concern where it’s not needed, but we feel like we’re going to have to do a little bit more in trying to safeguard — and this goes on the heels with some conversations we’ve had with Fort Riley folks.
“As you know, the military and law enforcement have been under threat for quite some time.”
Earlier this year, a man was arrested in a plot to bomb Fort Riley.
“They’re concerned about public events and we’re kind of working with them to potentially identify those incidents where we might need to take a little bit more precaution,” Doehling said.
Doehling also told commissioners the RCPD is preparing a proposal to join the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is a unit of the FBI.
The FBI’s Manhattan office is just across the street from the Commission Chambers.
“This is big,” commissioner Robert Boyd said. “This is something that our (RCPD) director and assistant director have been pursuing, is intelligence-led policing, and we’re very, very supportive.”
In other items, commissioners appointed Dr. Cary Herl as a local health officer and Riley County Extension Director Jennifer Wilson updated the board on the latest 4-H happenings.
