ATLANTA — Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed was candid Wednesday about security changes everyone can expect to see at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. %
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Officers with long rifles and bomb sniffing dogs will now be seen walking around the airport, outside and inside security checkpoints.
"We're trying to do everything we can do to keep the 55,000 people who are out there every day safe," Reed said.
Not only is Reed ordering more officers to carry rifles, but he also wants to double the city's SWAT team and is ordering the Atlanta Police Department to train more sharpshooters. %
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"We are going to have to have highly trained officers who can be activated and get to an incident rapidly, prepared to engage," Reed said.
Atlanta residents say they're noticing the change.
"I think whatever is necessary to make people, not just feel safe, make it safer," Edna Bachman said.
Reed called the Brussels airport terrorist attack a learning event.
"You make an adjustment based on the most recent terror events, and then their experts who advise us on where we think they are going," Reed said.
Atlanta police will now have access to the 55,000 cameras around the city. Reed says cameras at Atlanta's malls are next to be routed to police.
Cox Media Group
