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Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

Shalhevet news online: When we know it, you'll know it

The Boiling Point

School boosts security after death of bin Laden

Shalhevet increased security in the wake of  Osama bin Laden’s death in early May, though the LAPD did not specifically recommend it.

Security guards at Shalhevet were instructed by the head of their agency, PSC Security Inc., to strengthen security throughout the premises a few days after bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda behind the attacks of 9/11, was killed in Pakistan by a team of Navy Seals.

According to Mr. Meny Atias, the head of security at Milken High School, Milken has increased security as well, not because of bin Laden’s death but in response to recent threats to local synagogues like the small explosion outside Chabad House Lubavitch of Santa Monica in early April (www.tinyurl.com/SMTEMPLE).

But local synagogues have not done so, according to their heads of security.  Spokesmen at B’nai David-Judea, Beth Jacob and Beth Am synagogues said they had not boosted up their security, saying it was already high before.

Although much of the world is breathing easier after the death of Osama bin Laden was announced May 1, no one knows whether – or how – Al Qaeda and other terrorist organizations might retaliate.

Shalhevet’s security team is taking extra precautions by listening to the LAPD radio, doubling patrols, and inspecting unfamiliar cars that enter the school.

Jose Luis Rodrigues, one of Shalhevet’s three guards, said that they now patrol the campus every 30 minutes instead of every hour and also tune in to their LAPD radios, though this is not new. The security team is also coordinating with the school maintenance crew to watch for suspicious activity around campus.

The guards are looking carefully inside delivered packages and cars that arrive through the main parking lot, something they had done in previous years but had stopped because they did not feel the need to do so.

Overall, Mr. Rodrigues said, the guards will be more attentive to what they see happening inside, outside and around the school. However, they are unsure how long these extra measures will last.

“These kinds of people are unpredictable,” Mr. Rodrigues said.

Some students don’t feel the need for new safety precautions.

“There’s for sure going to be some kind of terrorist reaction, but overall I don’t feel that affected by it,” said freshman Avital Sabo.

Following Bin Laden’s death, the LAPD received multiple bomb threats, but none of them were considered significant and they mostly had to do with warnings of suspicious bags left in parking lots, according to LAPD Officer Munir Manjra, who works at a desk in the LAPD’s Wilshire head quarters.

The commotion has died down, but Officer Manjra told The Boiling Point that they are “still taking proactive measures” by increasing security and patrols in malls and other densely populated and “high volume areas.”

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