Former Bostonian, MPD Chief Flynn responds to Boston tragedy

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- As Milwaukee is now MPD Chief Ed Flynn's top priority, at one time, the Boston Marathon held that spot, when Flynn was Secretary of Public Safety for the governor. Thus, he has a unique perspective on what happened in Boston on Monday, April 15th, when two bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

"In that role, we coordinated the security planning for the Boston Marathon," Chief Flynn said.

Flynn and his team developed security plans to prevent threats and respond to them should they occur.

"You know, every year the plan is updated in light of new information but the skeleton of the plan remains in place," Chief Flynn said.

Flynn says it was evident Monday the partnerships between local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have effectively solidified.

"Many of those same people are in place and I think they did an admirable job," Chief Flynn said.

Flynn's training has only expanded since his days as Public Safety Secretary.

"Our attention to Homeland Security planning and Homeland Security and the Homeland Security threatening environment is ongoing and constant," Chief Flynn said.

The Intelligence Fusion Center located within MPD headquarters brings together agencies of all levels to monitor the threat environment and provide accurate threat intelligence to the entire southeastern Wisconsin region. This comes in handy when considering all the outdoor activities that take place in Milwaukee, including the Harley-Davidson anniversary celebrations, Summerfest, Lakefront Marathons, baseball games and other festivals.

They have already been doing teleconferencing with other fusion centers across the country every 12 hours since the Boston explosions, getting the status of the investigation.

"Because all of us that have major events need to adjust our planning to whatever is learned from a critical incident that occurs at another event," Chief Flynn said.