Texas Police Receive FBI Alert About Possible Halloween Attacks On Officers
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DALLAS (CBS 11 NEWS) - Several North Texas police departments are on alert after the FBI sent a warning about possible attacks on officers on Halloween. Three North Texas police departments confirm receiving the email bulletin, which was dispersed to agencies across the U.S. on Monday.
CBS News reports, the alert concerns a possible "Halloween Revolt" by an anarchist group that encouraged members to dress in costume, cause a disturbance and then ambush police who come to help.
Dallas and Irving police are among the local agencies who received the bulletin.
"We have a responsibility to the public, especially on holidays where our children are out there. I live in the City of Dallas so that's my wife and children who are out there too, so I think police officers are going to do everything we can to keep the public safe," said Sergeant Mike Mata, vice president of the Dallas Police Association.
Police will not comment on what kind of preparations are planned, citing security reasons.
Sgt. Mata says he's confident that the police intelligence unit will look into it thoroughly and inform patrol officers working this weekend as necessary.
His concern is for fear – that a memo or warning of this nature will instill fear in the public.
"It happens probably more than we realize. It's just most of them are probably not found to be credible," explained Sgt. Mata. "I'm very confident in the Dallas Police Intelligence Unit, that they're looking through this and that if they find this is a credible threat they'll get us the needed information as soon as possible."
This summer, a man in an armored vehicle launched an attack on Dallas police headquarters and officers.
He says officers have become more vigilant since that incident.
Sergeant Mata said, "There's a different type of criminal out there now. It's not just the guy breaking into houses, the guy stealing cars or committing assaults. It's individuals who go out who specifically target law enforcement or any type of government entity to do just what this bulletin is saying: create some kind of mayhem for no other reason than to scare the public and create some type of anxiety."
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