Local authorities warn attack like in New Orleans could happen anywhere

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Local South Dakota authorities are warning that an attack like what happened in New Orleans on New Year’s Day could happen anywhere.

For any major event in Sioux Falls, the city’s police department plays a key role in keeping people safe.

Public Information Officer Sam Clemens with the Sioux Falls Police Department said they participate in the planning of those events. A committee of different departments in the city comb over any areas of concern, and work with organizers to put on safe events.

“There’s an incredible amount of resources that goes into planning, and trying to make sure that everybody’s going to be safe,” Clemens said.

But that doesn’t mean people still shouldn’t be paying attention at all times. Nationally, Tom Mynsberge, the president of Critical Incident Management, said people need to be aware at all times of their surrondings, especially if they’re at an outdoor event.

“You can make yourself a victim by not being aware of your surroundings, what might be coming up behind you, and not being able to hear it because you had your noise-canceling earphones in, that’s what they’re for. Not really a good idea anymore in public areas when you’re out there and exposed. Give yourself a defensive posture, or at least a chance when something like this happens,” Mynsberge said.

Clemens said even though they put that much time and resources into planning for major and crowded events, he said that doesn’t mean they can stop everything from happening.

“We can do the planning on our side. We can set up barricades, we can have officers stationed at different areas. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen. We’re just trying to prevent it from happening, trying to mitigate it. But we still want people to have a plan, and have an idea of what to do in case there’s an issue,” Clemens said.

He said the one thing the public can do to keep things safe is to come up with an exit plan in case anything happens. That means identifying exits and talking to the people you’re with where to meet up.

“Just because things are going fine and you’re having fun, whatever the event may be, doesn’t mean that something bad couldn’t happen. So if people just kind of have a plan, what to do, where to go, just making sure that things are the way they seem. If they see something out of the ordinary, we want people to call police or call 911 right away,” Clemens said.

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