"It seems like right now we're in the middle of a long haul," Garten said. "And it is unrelenting."
Wexler, whose group has studied Israeli counterterrorism techniques, said that although the Israeli police have learned how to stay on heightened alert, this state of vigilance is still "a relatively new phenomenon in this country."
Officers staff the barricades at Maryland Avenue and Second Street NE.
(Rich Lipski -- The Washington Post)
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"In Jerusalem, the police get hundreds of bomb calls a day and have been on heightened alert for years," he said. "With alerts that last days and months, every police chief in America is now being faced with a real dilemma with limited resources."
The Capitol Police and other D.C. area police agencies are at the center of that dilemma. On their 12-hour shifts, Capitol officers patrol the grounds, stop cars and trucks at roadblocks and use explosives-sniffing dogs to conduct hundreds of other inspections a day at congressional buildings. At the same time, FBI agents across the Washington region are interviewing Muslim businessmen and activists, Department of Homeland Security agents are stepping up investigations of immigrants and Metro Transit Police officers are patrolling the subway and warning riders to look for suspicious packages and passengers.
Along with the issues of morale and effectiveness are the ballooning costs. In fiscal 2001, New York City spent $200,000 on police overtime for antiterrorism. According to the New York City Independent Budget Office, it costs $500,000 each week to maintain the current terror alert. New York officials said the heightened alert is built into their policing policy and strategy now, but the costs are daunting.
"The city is facing a $3 billion deficit next year, and we are spending money we don't have because Congress hasn't come through for New York," said Ed Skyler, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg (R).
In Washington, the Capitol Police spend about $1.5 million in overtime every two weeks.
The latest round of 12-hour shifts for the Capitol Police began after Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge raised the alert level in August for financial institutions in New York, Washington and Newark. Capitol Police Chief Terrance W. Gainer closed streets on Capitol Hill to protect lawmakers and staff members from a possible truck or car bomb. He set up a dozen checkpoints to inspect vehicles. And he ordered the officers in his approximately 1,600-member department to cancel their leave and begin the longer shifts. Many have had to work six-day weeks, but Gainer, who has received high marks from his officers, is now trying to give most of them two days off each week, Maybo said.
Last month, Gainer ordered many of his officers to begin wearing new equipment to protect them from a biological or chemical attack.
"We truly ask a lot of these guys," Gainer said. "Be sharp, give directions, smile all the time they're doing it and be ready to fall on a hand grenade."
Gainer recently brought his officers together for an intelligence briefing and a pep talk about their role in the nation's safety.
"The days and nights are long, but I told them they are not nearly as long and hot and dangerous as for our countrymen serving in Afghanistan and Iraq," Gainer said.
"The nation is at war. We have a piece of it, and we have to grin and bear our portion."
But on the holiday weekend, a large group of officers decided they had borne enough.
