wow 200 cops sit around everyday in front of computers in a secret location in north phoenix protecting us from terrorists!!!! dont you feel safer? me? i keep looking at my pocket book wondering how much money the government is removing from it to pay for this foolishnes. Original Article Phoenix center a hub for coordinating terrorism data JJ Hensley The Arizona Republic Jul. 9, 2005 12:00 AM This is fighting terrorism in the 21st century: spending hours in front of a computer processing information from police and federal agencies and keeping tabs on the world through Fox News and CNN. More than 200 employees from police and fire departments and federal agencies do it every day at the Arizona Counter Terrorism Information Center, and other than going on a 24-hour rotation until the federal government says otherwise, their jobs haven't changed much since bombs exploded in London early Thursday morning. When the first of the blasts occurred, about 1 a.m. Arizona time, the center sat quiet and empty; workers wouldn't arrive for another five hours. Once they did, counterterrorism specialists contacted officers at every police department in the state and gave them a briefing on how the situation would affect Arizona. "It was clear from the beginning this was a terrorist incident. It had all the earmarks of an al-Qaida-type operation," state Department of Public Safety Maj. Norm Beasley said. "We're always concerned with follow-up on attacks. Whenever there's a major incident somewhere, we ramp up to make sure there's no nexus to Arizona." Once the experts from around the Valley realized there wasn't a threat in Arizona, they sent out a message to increase visibility with extra police patrols at transportation hubs like bus, plane and train stations and went about their daily duties of fighting crime in the state. Unique collaboration With more than 3 million residents in the Valley, there's plenty to do, Beasley said. It has become easier since October, when employees from more than 20 agencies joined forces in the nondescript brick building in north Phoenix. The Department of Homeland Security paid for the $5.3 million complex; Arizona taxpayers pick up the salaries for employees, who all work for different state agencies. AcTIC, as the center is known, has played a role in responding to the most notorious criminal incidents in the Valley this year. In May, it funneled information about suspects into research and analysis databases following the fatal shooting of Phoenix police Officer David Uribe; in June, AcTIC workers responded to the ricin scare in Mesa; and when the fences at Sky Harbor International Airport are crashed, AcTIC agents are among the first to know. When a call comes in to the center, either from a police officer or a citizen who has seen something suspicious, it goes to an AcTIC agent, who enters the information in a database and funnels it to the right department. Everyone from the FBI to Phoenix Police to Glendale Fire can keep track of the case through the system. That collaboration is what makes the center unique, said Lori Norris, a lieutenant with DPS. Norris works in the watch center, a large room with eight or nine agents from around the Valley keeping track of developments with everything from the Homeland Security Information Network to azcentral.com. As the watch center's commander, Norris witnesses that fruits of that collaboration on a daily basis. "Each one brings their own expertise," she said. Residents' help needed But for Phoenix to fight terror, it will take more than officers working together, Beasley said. AcTIC counts on residents to provide information, but few are even aware of the center. After bombs went off in central London, the center received two calls from concerned local residents. On most days, they don't get any. With terrorist groups concentrating on "soft targets" such as buses, trains and nightclubs, everyday people need to be the eyes and ears of law enforcement, Beasley said. "(Terrorists) tend to shy away from those facilities where their chances of success are reduced," he said, adding that lately terrorist groups have split into smaller and smaller cells. "When you have groups like that, it's extremely difficult. It's difficult to penetrate and difficult to gather intelligence." That's where residents come in: reporting suspicious events and people. Though Arizona might not have a lot of visible terrorist targets, Beasley said, the state does have connections to America's worst incidents to date. "Two of the 9/11 hijackers were here. Timothy McVeigh was here," he said, referring to the Oklahoma City bomber. "Arizona, in one way, shape or form, has been touched."