HERE IN THE UNITED STATES, THE DEADLY BOMBINGS AT THE BOSTON MARATHON STILL TOP THE NEWS.
AND WE'RE JOINED NOW BY OUR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT JIM MALONE, AND REPORTER HENRY RIDGWELL IN
LONDON. LET'S START WITH YOU, HENRY. IF YOU CAN, TAKE US BACK TO 2005, WHEN THE LONDON BOMBINGS
HAPPENED. AND IF YOU CAN DO A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS WITH REGARDS TO WHAT HAPPENED IN BOSTON, AND
HOW DO YOU THINK THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS REASSESSING THE SECURITY MEASURES?
THE BOMBINGS HERE IN LONDON IN JULY 2005 WERE CLEARLY A HUGE SHOCK TO THE CITY
AUTHORITIES, AND TO THE PEOPLE OF THE CITY THEMSELVES, AND WE'VE SEEN A SIMILAR RESPONSE
IN BOSTON WITH THE BOMBINGS THERE. SHOCK, INITIALLY, AND THEN A LEVEL OF RESOLVE AMONG THE PEOPLE
THAT THEY'RE NOT GOING TO LET THE TERRORISTS OR WHOEVER CARRIED OUT THESE ATTACKS WIN THE DAY,
AND THEY'RE GOING TO GET BACK TO NORMAL LIFE AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. IN TERMS OF THE RESPONSE FROM THE
AUTHORITIES AND THE SECURITY SERVICES, THERE WERE CERTAIN SYSTEMIC FAILURES THAT WERE REASSESSED
FOLLOWING THE ATTACKS. THEY DISCOVERED, FOR EXAMPLE, THAT THEIR SHORTWAVE RADIOS DID NOT
WORK IN THE TUNNELS OF THE METRO SYSTEM HERE, AND THAT HELD UP THE RESCUE EFFORT. SO THERE
WERE CERTAIN THINGS THAT WERE REASSESSED IN TERMS OF THAT. BUT THERE WAS ALSO A REEVALUATION REALLY
OF THE CITY'S ATTITUDE TOWARDS ATTACKS LIKE THESE, AND A RECOGNITION PERHAPS THAT YOU
CAN'T LOCK DOWN EVERY SINGLE ASPECT OF A CITY, EVERY SINGLE TRANSIT SYSTEM, EVERY SINGLE
STREET. A CITY, BY ITS OWN NATURE, IS VULNERABLE, AND A KEY PART OF KEEPING THE SECURITY IS
THE ATTITUDE OF THE PUBLIC AND THE PEOPLE AROUND. SO THERE WAS A RAISING OF THE LEVEL
OF AWARENESS OF THE PEOPLE IN TERMS OF LOOKING OUT FOR SUSPECT BAGS, SUSPECT PACKAGES
IN VULNERABLE AREAS, IN POPULAR TOURIST AREAS, IN TRANSIT SYSTEMS, AND SO ON. AND REALLY, THE LEVEL
OF RESOLVE IN LONDON CAME BACK VERY STRONGLY, AND PEOPLE WERE DETERMINED TO GET BACK TO
NORMAL. AND I THINK, FROM WHAT I'VE SEEN, WE'RE BEGINNING TO SEE THAT IN BOSTON AS
WELL. A LOT OF PEOPLE SAYING HOW TRAGIC THESE EVENTS ARE, BUT ALSO THAT THE ONLY WAY TO
RESPOND TO THIS REALLY IS TO GET BACK TO LIFE AS NORMAL.
JIM, TURNING TO BOSTON NOW, WHICH IS YOUR HOMETOWN, THE ATTACKS COINCIDED WITH A STATE
HOLIDAY, PATRIOT'S DAY. HOW DO YOU THINK THE BOSTONIANS ARE TAKING THIS?
WELL, OBVIOUSLY IT WAS A BODY BLOW TO THE CITY, ITS IMAGE. BOSTONIANS ARE A RESILIENT GROUP,
THEY'RE GOING TO BOUNCE BACK. SOMETIMES, THEY'RE A LITTLE HARD TO GET TO KNOW, BUT
ONCE YOU GET IN THEIR MIDST, THEY BECOME VERY LOYAL FRIENDS. AND I THINK WE SAW IN THE IMMEDIATE
AFTERMATH, HOW PEOPLE RUSHED TO HELP THOSE WHO WERE INJURED. YOU KNOW, AS A KID, WE WOULD
GO TO THE MARATHON EVERY YEAR. IT WAS A BIG, LOCAL HOLIDAY IN MASSACHUSETTS. IT DREW RUNNERS
FROM AROUND THE WORLD AND HAS FOR DECADES. THE MOST ELITE MARATHON RUNNERS IN THE WORLD
LIKE TO PARTICIPATE IN BOSTON, AND SO IT WAS A REAL "DAY OF THE WORLD," COMING INTO THE BOSTON
COMMUNITY. AND ALTHOUGH THAT'S BEEN ROCKED A BIT BY THE EVENTS WE'VE SEEN, I THINK
BOSTON WILL BOUNCE BACK. IT'S ALSO AN INDICATION THAT SINCE 9/11, AMERICANS MAY HAVE
BECOME LULLED INTO A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY. THE THREATS ARE STILL THERE, AND I THINK THIS
WILL BE A REMINDER OF THAT.
HENRY, TELL ME SOMETHING. NOW, IN THE DIGITAL AGE, WHEN WE HAVE TONS OF VIDEO AND IMAGES FROM CELL PHONES
AND SECURITY CAMERAS, WHAT KIND OF ROLE DO YOU THINK THEY PLAY IN TERMS OF GETTING TO THE CORE OF THESE
INVESTIGATIONS?
IN BRITAIN, THEY PLAY A HUGELY IMPORTANT ROLE. IT'S ONE OF THE MOST SURVEILLANCE [HEAVY]
SOCIETIES IN THE WORLD. THERE'S SOMETHING LIKE TWO MILLION TO FOUR MILLION SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS ACROSS
THE COUNTRY IN A POPULATION OF 60 MILLION PEOPLE. AND THERE WAS A STUDY DONE RECENTLY THAT
SUGGESTED ON AN AVERAGE DAY, SOMEBODY WOULD BE FILMED BY A SURVEILLANCE
CAMERA 300 TIMES, AND THAT WAS BEFORE THE ADVENT OF CAMERA PHONES AND THAT SORT
OF THING. IN TERMS OF THE INVESTIGATION INTO THE JULY 2005 BOMBINGS, THEY PLAYED A KEY
PART, BECAUSE THE SURVEILLANCE CAMERAS AT RAILWAY STATIONS THAT THE BOMBERS USED
TO TRAVEL DOWN TO LONDON, PICKED UP THEIR FACES VERY CLEARLY, AND SO VERY QUICKLY FOLLOWING
THE BOMBINGS, THE POLICE WERE ABLE TO ISSUE PHOTOS OF THESE PEOPLE WHO HAD TRAVELED DOWN,
THE SUSPECTS, AND WERE VERY QUICKLY ABLE TO INVESTIGATE AND CHECK THAT THERE WERE NO FURTHER
THREATS, AND DETERMINE WHERE THIS ATTACK HAD COME FROM. SO IT DOES PLAY A VERY IMPORTANT
ROLE HERE IN BRITAIN, AND PEOPLE ARE REALLY USED TO THE SURVEILLANCE SOCIETY HERE NOW.
THERE ARE PORTIONS OF SOCIETY WHO OBJECT TO IT, BUT I THINK THE MAJORITY PROBABLY APPROVE OF IT,
AND SEE IT AS A WAY OF KEEPING THEM SAFE.
THANK YOU TO BOTH OF YOU FOR TAKING THE TIME OUT. THANK YOU SO MUCH.