Local Law Enforcement Stepping Up Security Following Deadly Orlando Attack
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – For many people right now, it's probably hard not to wonder if they need to worry about their safety at gay bars and clubs. It's why some local officials want anyone who's concerned to know that law enforcement is on the job.
We've seen terrorists strike schools, universities, airplanes, airports, shopping centers, marathon races, now the club in Orlando – leaving lawmen to wonder, where next?
In July of 2012, a gunman went berserk in a Colorado movie theater, killing a dozen people and wounding 70.
Miami Beach Police Chief Dan Oates was the police chief in Aurora – a town, which like Orlando now, will never be the same.
"It is permanent pain. Terrible, terrible anguish for families," Oates said. "And, you know, all of Orlando needs our support and help and prayers."
For lawmen, the great frustration is in trying to see terror coming.
"The best way to deal with them is to have an active and a vibrant intelligence process where you identify and intercept them before they act," Oates said.
But Omar Mateen wasn't stopped by warning flags and FBI interviews, so lawmen now react.
On Miami Beach, police are stepping up checks on clubs frequented by LGBT clientele.
In Broward, there's heightened alert ahead of this weekend's big 17th Annual Stonewall Parade.
"We're going to have confidential briefings and intelligence gathering so we can best prepare for this, you know, very, very important event," said Broward Sheriff Scott Israel.
The blood bath in Orlando isn't keeping people from gathering.
It won't stop Ralph Lopez from take his family to Disney.
"What I told my wife is we can't let fear overtake us," he said. "So we're actually planning on going to Orlando in a couple months, but it's something that definitely is in the back of your mind."
Despite the inability to stop Mateen on the FBI's radar, the mantra still stands: "See something, say something."
"It is still imperative if you do see something, say something," Israel said. "That is critical to impart that information to law enforcement."
In fact, citizen tips prevented a terrorist car bombing in crowd Times Square in May 2010.
That's just one high profile example, lawmen say, of citizen tips leading to the arrest of a suspected terrorist or the prevention of a terrorist act.
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