LAPD Holds Downtown Counterterrorism Drill
By SARAH PARVINI Associated Press
LOS ANGELES June 6, 2013 (AP)
Gunfire echoed through downtown and law enforcement helicopters swooped low among office towers Thursday, but it was all a drill as the Police Department's counterterrorism unit demonstrated a response to a weapon-of-mass-destruction threat.
The late-morning demonstration began with an explosion of flash grenades, officers firing blank ammunition at pretend suspects, and police rappelling out of a county Sheriff's Department helicopter and onto a hotel bridge on Figueroa Street.
A red pickup truck carrying a barrel drove onto the scene shortly after, presenting officers with the challenge of neutralizing an improvised explosive device in the center of a highly populated area.
The drill was planned in conjunction with the National Homeland Security Association's conference at the Bonaventure Hotel and was conducted by the Police Department's Counter Terrorism and Special Operations Bureau.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/lapd-hold-downtown-counterterrorism-drill-19340007#.UbE7CU7D_1E
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