Front entrance to the Phoenix Police Department Headquarters building showing some of the outer concrete perimeter defenses. Just to the lower right hand corner of the picture just behind the large circular concrete barrier is a lesser size concrete planter (barely visible) that has been identified as the problem area. That smaller planter needs to be moved about 300 feet to the right of its current location – closer to the sidewalk to prevent a small or mid sized vehicle from accessing this walkway area between the building and the main concrete barrier (off to the right – not shown in the picture) where a vehicle could conceivably drive down and park itself just 20 yards from the main entrance. This poses an obvious security risk should someone have the intent of using a vehicle borne explosive or car bomb.
Surrounding the Phoenix Police Department headquarters building main entrance at 620 w. Washington Street in Phoenix, Arizona are a series of very large and extremely heavy concrete planters.
These large concrete planters are not only for beatification, but serve a very practical purpose of preventing vehicles from ramming the front entrance of the police station, as well providing a modicum of protection against car bombs and vehicle borne explosives…
The problem is on the right front side of the building (as you face the front entrance) a concrete planter is positioned too far back from the curb which could allow a determined individual to drive a compact or medium size car up and over the curbside onto the public sidewalk and travel down between the building and the concrete barrier and position itself less than 20 yards from the front entrance of police headquarters.
Why this particular concrete planter was positioned like that isn’t entirely clear.
What is clear is an unwillingness for the Phoenix Police or Phoenix City Council to accept unsolicited advice or address this citizen concern regarding their inadequate security arrangement here.
See article: How being a concerned citizen can get you profiled by the police if you’re not careful https://groundreport.com/how-being-a-concerned-citizen-can-get-you-profiled-by-the-police-if-youre-not-careful/
The fix seems easy enough by simply moving that planter closer to the sidewalk about 300 feet where it would prevent the possibility altogether of a vehicle being driven in between there and bolster the security of the outer perimeter defenses.
Short of actually driving a vehicle down into that spot and abandoning it there – I am at a loss at this point how else to get the point across about this gap in security?
See related article: Terrorists increasing targeting police buildings in attacks https://groundreport.com/terrorists-increasing-targeting-police-buildings-in-attacks/