Security Measures

Fans planning to attend Sunday's game between the Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals are urged to arrive early as part of additional security measures being implemented at all NFL stadiums. According to NFL.com, security personnel will begin using hand-held metal detectors this Sunday as part of the screening process before fans enter the stadiums. In addition to fans, media and working personnel will also be subject to the screenings. Ravens fans had previously been advised to enter M&T Bank Stadium early prior to the Ravens' contest against the Houston Texans on Oct. 16 and the Arizona Cardinals two weeks later.

Fans planning to attend Sunday's game between the Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals are urged to arrive early as part of additional security measures being implemented at all NFL stadiums. According to NFL.com, security personnel will begin using hand-held metal detectors this Sunday as part of the screening process before fans enter the stadiums. In addition to fans, media and working personnel will also be subject to the screenings. Ravens fans had previously been advised to enter M&T Bank Stadium early prior to the Ravens' contest against the Houston Texans on Oct. 16 and the Arizona Cardinals two weeks later.

Stricter security measures have been implemented at Annapolis City Hall following a review of procedures after a theft earlier this year from the city's Finance Department, city officials said Tuesday. The first phase of stepped-up security, which will include requiring City Hall visitors to sign in during business hours, began last week. A security guard has been posted at the front entrance of City Hall and all other access to the building has been closed. Employees are also now required to wear city-issued identification badges.

Due to the enhanced security measures the NFL has implemented this season, the Ravens are asking their fans to arrive early for Sunday's game against the Houston Texans at M&T Bank Stadium. "We will do a better job of getting our fans into M&T Bank Stadium this Sunday in a timely fashion," said Ravens senior vice president of public and community relations Kevin Byrne. "We do ask fans to arrive earlier, because our increased security practices make for a longer entrance process.” With the rules in effect, there had been some complaints from fans about the amount of time it took to get into the stadium for the Oct. 2 game against the New York Jets.

Administrators at Howard High School urged teachers and students yesterday to be more cautious, but they decided against implementing any new security measures one day after a health teacher was stabbed with a kitchen knife."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Citing a reduction in the threat of terrorism, Transportation Secretary Samuel K. Skinner said yesterday that the tight security measures at U.S. airports imposed during the Persian Gulf war will soon be relaxed.Mr. Skinner added, however, that domestic airport and airline security would still be at a higher level than before the war and would not be reduced at all on international flights.Hours after the war began Jan. 16, the Federal Aviation Administration raised airport and airline security to "level four," the highest level ever imposed.

Far away from the national attention that was generated from the school shootings in Colorado and Pennsylvania, the Howard County school system reassured parents about school safety while staff prepared to deal with potential reaction of students and the education community pondered the events. Staff members were reminded that they should wear identification badges at all times, that all visitors should wear visitors badges and that all doors - except for the main entrance - should be closed and locked, according to spokeswoman Patti Caplan.

A series of violent incidents at the Baltimore City jail has prompted a lockdown that could remain in effect through the end of the year or longer, according to state officials and inmate advocates. Program providers said they were recently notified that they would not be able to visit the Baltimore City Detention Center at least through the end of December. Advocates are concerned that key services and even holiday visits, such as an annual program in which children are able to visit their mothers on Christmas, could be blocked.

Visitors to the Carroll County Office Building in Westminster may soon notice a slight change. A new security camera will be monitoring activity at the basement entrance, all government employees will be wearing identification badges, and some desks will be equipped with "panic buttons" that summon police. Carroll commissioners recently budgeted $5,000 to implement the security measures, which mirror efforts at nearby administrative offices of the Board of Education. "We are no longer the small, local place where everybody knows everybody," said Steven D. Powell, director of management and budget for Carroll County.

THE PREVENTABLE DEATHS of 19 American servicemen were needed to wrest Saudi approval for security measures at the Khobar Towers apartments in Dhahran that should have been made last year. The perimeter will be pushed from 30 to 400 feet away, enough to have foiled the truck bomb that exploded last Tuesday.Much is heard about Saudi sensitivities and the need to tread cautiously with the strange royal house that runs the world's largest oil reserve as a family property. It is denounced by extremists as too beholden to the secular U.S. while guarding the sacred sites of Islam.

If you're a Ravens fan going to Sunday's game against the Houston Texans, here's good news: you probably won't spend half your life getting into M&T Bank Stadium this time. It shouldn't be nearly as bad as two weeks ago, when the NFL's enhanced security measures led to long lines before the Ravens' nationally televised beat-down of the New York Jets. Many fans waited close to an hour to get in. And this'll shock you: they weren't happy about it. They whined about it on talk-radio shows.

Aberdeen Proving Ground police were alerted to a suspicious person possibly carrying a rifle Wednesday morning, although further investigation revealed the person was not armed and was legitimately working on the federal installation. Two APG employees reported a suspicious person possibly carrying a rifle walking in the post's Edgewood Area at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday, according to a statement from the post public affairs office. APG law enforcement personnel investigated, questioned the person and cleared the environmental contract employee after he was confirmed to be carrying a stick while surveying the area, according to the statement.

The disclosure by WikiLeaks of thousands of U.S. diplomatic communications has sparked debate about a key response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Is it wise to share sensitive national security information more widely — including to upwards of a half-million military and civilian defense personnel — to help thwart future terrorism by better "connecting the dots" from fragmentary data? Or is wider sharing an unduly risky ditching of the proven security precept of "need to know?" We believe wider sharing is wise — but only if aided by sound security practices and advanced technology to protect information.

As members of Congress travel home for the holidays following the lame duck session, they should take a look around our nation's airports and ask whether the $8 billion that the Transportation Security Administration has spent since 2001 on new security technology was money well spent. With $30 million in investments for machines that puffed air to "sniff" out explosives residue on passengers now gathering dust in a government warehouse, Americans are justified in wondering whether the TSA is too quick to write large checks for technologically unproven security systems.

The Sun made the right decision to print on the front page a story about the city jail lockdown ( "City jail lockdown could last through year," Dec. 11). Again and again, heavy-handed responses to internal situations have proven to be failures. It seems inane to tighten security measures in the women's and juvenile units, even though the incidents occurred in the men's section. In Baltimore and in other sections of the country, the prison systems need imaginative administrators with a sense of proportion.

A series of violent incidents at the Baltimore City jail has prompted a lockdown that could remain in effect through the end of the year or longer, according to state officials and inmate advocates. Program providers said they were recently notified that they would not be able to visit the Baltimore City Detention Center at least through the end of December. Advocates are concerned that key services and even holiday visits, such as an annual program in which children are able to visit their mothers on Christmas, could be blocked.

Aberdeen Proving Ground has significantly heightened security at entrance gates and chemical warfare and research buildings on the post to avoid the possibility of terrorist incidents, U.S. Army officials said.Army officials are also planning to hold meetings for military families stationed at the 72,518-acre research and training base toinform them of security precautions they should be taking.APG is one of many military bases, government facilities and airports across the country that have stepped up security measures to prevent pro-Iraq acts of terrorism.

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - Brazil intensified its campaign yesterday to be exempted from new American security measures that require most foreign visitors to be fingerprinted and photographed on arrival in the United States. The effort followed a personal appeal by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to President Bush at a meeting late Monday night. "If there are already 27 countries, then why not 28?" da Silva was reported by Brazilian officials to have said to Bush, referring to a group of mostly European nations whose citizens are largely exempt from the policy.

A former Annapolis city employee has been identified as the suspect in a theft from City Hall this year, but the state's attorney's office has declined to press charges, city officials announced Thursday morning. The Annapolis Police Department has concluded its investigation into the theft of more than $150,000 in checks and cash from the finance department, reported to police June 8 by then-Finance Director Tim Elliott, who the city said is not the suspect. Although Elliott immediately reported the theft to police, Annapolis Mayor Joshua J. Cohen did not learn of the theft until a week later, when police called to give him an update on the incident.

In response to the recent articles in your newspaper regarding the security measures being applied at the nation's airports under Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, it is obvious that after the attacks of 9/11, security measures needed to be taken to protect travelers and our homeland. The Constitution specifically charges the federal government to protect U.S. citizens from any and all foreign and domestic enemies. However, in my opinion, it is ironic that the extreme measures being taken at the airports — including the groping of private body parts, and nude body scans which emit potentially harmful radioactivity — are in stark contrast to the government's laxity in preventing illegal aliens from sneaking across the southern border.