(Contra Costa Times) Tom Lochner - A make-believe suicide bomber stood amid an imaginary crowd of commuters, poised to "detonate" his weapon and sow tragedy and terror, when a BART police SWAT team officer sneaked up from behind and yanked his legs out from under him. Then the counterterrorism officer straddled his back and pinned his arms outward, preventing the hands from setting off the charge. After last year's bombings of London's transit system and the previous year's bombings of Madrid's commuter trains, BART ratcheted up its counterterrorism training, said BART spokesman Jim Allison. "Weaponless takedown," the title of a demonstration for the news media, came on the last day of a four-day seminar for the 18-member BART SWAT team conducted by Los Angeles native Aaron Cohen, who said he served in a counterterrorist unit with the Israel Defense Forces. Today, Cohen runs IMS Security, an anti-terrorist institute that he said has consulted for U.S. government agencies. Reporters were not privy to all that went on during the four-day class. "We're selective about what we tell the media," said Sgt. Paul Garcia. "We don't want it to become training material for our opponents." Cohen also taught about "red flags" that can give away a bomber, such as profuse sweating, white knuckles (from gripping a package hard), clothing that does not match the season, a glazed look, and avoidance of security measures or personnel.
2006-03-10 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive