Updates keep coming in on the New Year's Day ter-rorist attack on Bourbon Street, but one detail thus far is especially disturbing and serves as a wake-up call to cities across the country.
Normally, bollards are part of a protective infrastructure preventing vehicles from entering areas crowded with pedestrians.
They weren't there in the early hours of New Year's Day when a man, since identified as 42-year-old Shamsud-Din Jabbar, allegedly drove a Ford pickup truck into a crowd of people, killing at least 14 and injuring 30 more.
After a firefight with law enforcement, the suspect was pronounced dead.
Where were the bollards installed in 2017 to prevent terrorist attacks? In the process of being replaced, Nola.com reported.
"Eventually everybody realized the need to replace them. They're in the process of doing that, but the new ones are not yet operational," said French Quarter Management District head Bob Simms.
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Simms said the old barrier at the crosswalk of Canal and Bourbon streets was removed a few weeks ago. Equipment for a replacement is in place, he said.
"They're doing it in time for the Super Bowl," Simms said. "It's ironic in a way."
It's not "ironic," it's a travesty, a dropped ball on security that cost people's lives.
Two witnesses said that they were surprised to see the barricades were not up during the New Year's festivities.
"Those barricades were not up, period," Jimmy Cothran, a New Orleans resident, told CNN. "They had the flimsy orange ones that you could just push over with your finger. We actually thought it was kind of odd."
Whoever was in charge of securing Bourbon Street should have thought it odd, too, and drawn attention to the lapse. The lesson here is that security is not just the presence of law enforcement, surveillance and similar pre-event precautions. It's preparing for all eventualities, like a motorist plowing down pedestrians with nothing in place to stop him.
This isn't an isolated incident. Last month in Germany, a 50-year-old man was charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder after police said he plowed a car through crowds at a Christmas market in Magdeburg, killing five people and injuring scores, according to reports.
A Wisconsin man was convicted in 2022 of killing six people and injuring dozens when he drove his SUV into a Christmas parade near Milwaukee in November 2021.
There are other examples, sadly. The U.S. Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency calls vehicle attacks "a significant threat" in the U.S. and provides a "Vehicle Incident Prevention and Mitigation Security Guide."
Did anyone in New Orleans read it?
The story out of Bourbon Street gets worse. According to the FBI, an ISIS flag was located in the vehicle, and the agency is working to determine the subject's potential associations and affiliations with terrorist organizations.
There have been warnings for years that "ISIS is here." It's time for everyone, from municipal officials in charge of keeping streets secure during a big event to government leaders to take it seriously.
The lesson here is that security is ... preparing for all eventualities, like a motorist plowing down pedestrians with nothing in place to stop him.
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