Chicago officials assess public safety measures in wake of deadly New Orleans attack

CHICAGO (WLS) -- In wake of the devastating deadly truck attack on Bourbon Street in New Orleans, city officials are assessing how strong Chicago's public safety measures are for large gatherings.

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Concrete barriers, planters, bollards and Streets & Sanitation salt trucks all are used at large-scale Chicago events to prevent vehicles from driving into crowds.

"Part of our preparation is looking at any areas we might be vulnerable," CPD Chief of Patrol John Hein said.

The use of salt trucks as a barrier began a few years ago at Lollapalooza. Retired CPD First Deputy Supt. Anthony Riccio says they were originally used for crowd control when people were leaving the festival.

"We began closing down Michigan Avenue using snow plows middle in summer roll out snow plows and stop vehicular traffic," Riccio said.

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Because of their weight and coverage, now salt trucks have become a major security measure for all big scale events. In addition to visible barriers, Chief Hein says a great deal of planning goes into every major event to make sure Chicago is not a target.

"The relations we have with our federal partners, state partners our county partners is remarkable, sharing of info is unprecedented," Hein said.

While Chicago has handled big events well, tragedies like New Orleans and others are always learning experiences for CPD.

"What we have learned from this I think, is you can no longer count on going curb to curb with these barriers you pretty much have to go building to building, end to end," Riccio said.

Ald. Ray Lopez says Chicago must do more to secure smaller events like street festivals and farmers markets. He is calling on the city to use type 3 barricades at small events, the same kind used at the Democratic National Convention last summer.

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"At some of the smaller neighborhood events, you'll see the plastic barricades, or you might see some traffic cones," Lopez said. "You might see a garbage can in the middle of the street. That's insufficient."

Ald. Lopez says mobile vehicle barriers should be required as part of the permitting process for festivals and farmers markets. While they are costly, Lopez says you can't put a price tag on keeping people safe.