Post navigation

Prev: (01/21/16) | Next: (01/21/16)

Department of Homeland Security and SPD training ties up Madison

Boren_Madison (1)If you’re wondering why traffic on Madison was a nightmare Thursday, blame a Department of Homeland Security-led training exercise involving Seattle Police near 6th and Madison.

SPD confirmed the training Thursday morning but referred CHS to the federal agency for more information. We’ve asked DHS for more on the nature of the training and the planned duration. The federal agency offers local law enforcement agencies a wide variety of “training opportunities,” according to its website.

Thursday morning, traffic backed-up to Boren and beyond as vehicles were re-routed around the training area for access to I-5. There were no local announcements of the training session.

You can check out the latest conditions on the CHS Traffic Cameras page.

https://twitter.com/kcmetrobus/status/690226239

Subscribe and support CHS Contributors -- $1/$5/$10 per month

7 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Danielle
Danielle
8 years ago

Why would they do this during rush hour? Just… why.

Jim98122x
Jim98122x
8 years ago
Reply to  Danielle

Terrorists don’t schedule their explosions for off-hours.

Cromely
Cromely
8 years ago

Wow. Rush hour training with no advance notice to the people affected? That’s some TSA class thinking right there. Did they promote someone from that org to their LEO training partnerships?

I guess that explains why the 545 was such a mess today.

booz
booz
8 years ago
Reply to  Cromely

I mean in real life situations there will be no advance notice, people will be inconvenienced, it might happen in the busiest intersection or the slowest. I think it’s a more authentic training experience to do it this way.

Keith
Keith
8 years ago
Reply to  booz

But in real life, there would be announcements/news soon after something happened. They would likely encourage people to avoid the affected area, not continue on with their daily commute obliviously.

Nic
Nic
8 years ago

This has to be one of the silliest things they have done in a while. Due to this I was 30 minutes late to work this morning on my commute from Capitol Hill to Beacon Hill for work. I can understand training exercises are needed but at the same time if it is a planned training they should have at least alerted metro.

candrewb
candrewb
8 years ago

On a number of occasions I have seen DHS Tahoes racing through the downtown with their lights and sirens on. Not once did I hear later on the news how there was some big federal emergency that day… A cynic may conclude that a culture of superiority may exist within the department. Not by me of course.