Sheriff’s Team Goes to London

A team from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is in London this week to learn how to prevent and deal with attacks such as the July 7 train and bus bombings there.

“I don’t think people realize this, but we’re actually proactive about this all the time,” said Lt. Michael J. Parker, a Sheriff’s Department liaison for the county’s multi-agency Terrorism Early Warning Group.

The team visiting London flew there Wednesday at the invitation of Ian Blair, chief of London’s Metropolitan Police. The six to 10 team members are evaluating the circumstances of the bombing, response by authorities and investigative techniques used to pinpoint suspects, Parker said Monday.

Those making the trip include representatives of the sheriff’s bomb squad, its emergency operations center, terrorism detection unit and transit security department.

Gaining useful anti-terror information cannot easily be done without such site visits, said Randolph Hall, founder and former lead researcher for USC’s center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events.

“It pays to learn from the people who have had the experience,” he said. “Because we haven’t had this experience here in the United States, we can’t really learn that from within.”

London is singled out by experts as one of the best available anti-terrorism resources. “The United Kingdom has had a lot of experience with terrorism because of the [Irish Republican Army] bombings,” Hall said. “The fact that they were able to identify suspects so quickly is an indication that they have first-class investigative abilities as well.”

Local law enforcement officials have tightened security on transit systems since the blasts rocked London and left more than 50 dead. Sheriff Lee Baca beefed up existing patrols on commuter trains and ordered deputies to conduct inspections of tracks.

Parker would not discuss specifics of what the team hopes to learn in London, saying he does not want to tip off anyone with “ill intentions.”

Such trips are not uncommon, he said, adding that law officers from other nations visit Los Angeles for similar purposes.

“We have sent teams to Madrid and Israel. The chief of security for transit in Athens met with us before the Olympics to compare notes,” said Parker, whose duties include supervising transit security provided by the sheriff.

Five days before the London bombings, Parker was exchanging e-mails with officials there on ways to deal with graffiti, “so that’s how common communication is between the various agencies.”