Christie Reminds Residents To Remain On Alert, Offers Assistance To Boston Following Fatal Blasts
MENDHAM, N.J. (CBSNewYork) - Gov. Chris Christie is urging residents to remain vigilant in the wake of the Boston bombings that left three people dead and scores more injured.
The governor said he has been in constant contact with his senior staff and the head of the state Department of Homeland Security who are keeping a close eye on the security situation across the state.
"I've been in touch with Gov. [Deval] Patrick in Massachusetts and offered whatever aid or assistance we can give to him," Christie told reporters, including WCBS 880's Monica Miller, in Mendham on Tuesday. "He appreciated that offer of help and was trying to kind of make sense of everything."
Christie Reminds Residents To Remain On Alert, Offers Assistance To Boston Following Fatal Blasts
Christie said residents should always be aware and alert.
"You see something that's unusual, don't worry about picking up the phone and calling the police and saying, 'I see something unusual.' Let them do their jobs," said Christie. "You can't ever have enough police, enough agents to patrol a state as big as this state."
Christie also urged residents to go about their day as usual.
"We constantly live in this type of situation in our country after Sept. 11," Christie said.
New Jersey's toll-free tip line is 1-866 4-SAFE-NJ.
The New Jersey State Police have activated the state's emergency operations center following the attacks. In addition, the state has offered to send explosives experts, crime scene investigators and other law enforcement to Boston to assist with the investigation.
"Stay calm but obviously keep those eyes and ears going and report any kind of suspicious activity," State Police Lt. Stephen Jones said.
Jones said there is no known threat, but the agency's bomb unit, aviation crews, tactical teams and search and rescue assets have been deployed as a precaution.
New Jersey Beefs Up Security
NJ TRANSIT said it has deployed additional police to patrol its system of trains and buses. Service was suspended for about an hour after a suspicious package was found in Newark's Penn Station.
A spokesman said the package was checked and tested negative for explosives, but was removed for additional testing.
The Port Authority also is in a heightened state of alert at bridges, tunnels and on its PATH trains and stations.
While the Garden State doesn't have a marathon on the scale of Boston's, New Jersey will be hosting the Super Bowl next year and Jones said security preparations are already under way.
"We really hope that this tragedy is going to bear some good fruit in terms of the intelligence, the things we're able to learn from it as the investigation rolls forward," Jones said. "As we learn exactly how this attack was pulled off we're going to be able to take intelligence from this and apply it to the way that security is done."
The State Police noted that there are no specific threats against the Garden State.
Two explosions went off within seconds of each other near the finish line of the Boston Marathon around 2:50 Monday afternoon.
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