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Associated Press
16-06-2025
- Automotive
- Associated Press
ARCHER BARRIERS STOP CAR HEADING FOR CROWD
ALBUQUERQUE'S LATEST SAFETY PLAN PASSES TEST IN ITS FIRST WEEK 'Over the past few months, we've encountered barriers that have been hit several times, on one or two consecutive days.'— Eric Alms TORRANCE, CA, UNITED STATES, June 16, 2025 / / -- The City of Albuquerque set out to create safe pedestrian areas by closing downtown streets using Archer 1200 mobile barriers supplied by Meridian Rapid Defense Group. Within days, it was proven to be the right decision. On the first night of the Summer Art Walk, a driver drove a car head-on into a barrier, and the vehicle was stopped from entering the designated vehicle-free zone. The driver fled the scene but was later located and questioned by police. Dan Mayfield with the city's Department of Municipal Development said, 'We were thrilled. The barriers are doing their job. Had the driver kept going, he probably would have driven into pedestrians on Central, and that's exactly why we installed them.' Mr. Mayfield told KRQE News 13 the city is pleased with the Archer 1200 mobile barriers, stating that they are a valuable investment for downtown safety. 'It's fine,' he said, 'once the car was stopped, they just pulled the car out. Apparently, the engine is wrecked. They reset the barrier, and everything was good to go for the rest of the night.' Meridian president Eric Alms said, 'It's been a pleasure working with Albuquerque. They needed mobile barriers quickly, so while their new barriers were being manufactured, we provided them with rental barriers at no cost to the city. It was that important to get the city safer, quicker.' The city initially purchased drop-down gates a year ago, but according to News 13, they proved ineffective in preventing drivers from going through. The city purchased 83 of the new Archer 1200s, which offer greater mobility and facilitate easier movement. These barricades are placed every weekend from 3rd Street to 8th Street. The Archer mobile barriers, which the city purchased, are crash-tested to the highest level demanded by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. While each barrier weighs 700 lbs, its wheels allow it to be easily moved into place by one person in a matter of minutes. After the event is over, they can just as easily be moved away to allow traffic to flow freely. It is also designed to stop the vehicle without injuring the driver. Maria Griego, Albuquerque City Parking Division Manager, explained that the city is the first in New Mexico to acquire this type of barrier, which can be moved around for various events in other areas of town. 'It'll keep the driver safe. And then it also keeps the pedestrians safe. So, it's a win-win on both sides,' she said. Mr. Alms said, 'This is just one example of the effective stopping power of the barriers. Over the past few months, we've encountered barriers that have been hit several times, on one or two consecutive days. And then a very serious incident in California, where an elderly driver was confused and was stopped by a combination of barriers and cables as he was driving quickly towards a large group of parade watchers.' On each occasion, the barriers were put back in place undamaged, and the drivers weren't injured. Meridian Archer 1200 Barriers are " SAFETY Act Certified " by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), providing the ultimate standard in keeping people, communities, and places safer. For more information about Meridian Rapid Defense Group and the Archer 1200 vehicle barrier, visit Eric Alms Meridian Rapid Defense Group +1 213-400-9811 email us here Visit us on social media: LinkedIn Instagram Facebook YouTube X Legal Disclaimer: EIN Presswire provides this news content 'as is' without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.
CTV News
29-04-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Security barriers to be rushed in for Vancouver Marathon following festival attack
A shipment of security barriers destined for Vancouver has been fast tracked to ensure the Vancouver Marathon is sufficiently protected, one week after a vehicle attack at a cultural festival killed 11 and injured dozens more. Peter Whitford, CEO of security company Meridian Rapid Defense Group, says a supply of barriers had been ordered by the Vancouver Police Department in February and were due to be delivered around May 16. Following the tragic attack on Saturday at the Lapu-Lapu Day Filipino festival, the company has ramped up efforts to deliver 44 security barriers, a trailer, and the staff necessary to help deploy them, to the city before the BMO Vancouver Marathon on Sunday. 'We're going to provide this at no cost to the city of Vancouver to ensure that we can work with them to make this event as safe as we possibly can, as quickly as we can, after the aftermath of last weekend,' said Whitford. Whitford commends the VPD for doing a 'spectacular job at assessing the risk,' prior to the FIlipino event, ensuring that they looked at the risk factors and deemed them to be low, such that protection wouldn't be required. However the incident that unfolded on Saturday highlighted how any event where 'people mingle with traffic' needs perimeter security standards in place, Whitford said. 'I think the risk profile today is higher than it has been for many, many years,' he said. 'People will take to using vehicles for a very high impact when it comes to trying to do damage or harm to people. The impact of using a vehicle where people are in crowded places has definitely increased over the years.' The U.S.-based company began in 2005 with an aim of protecting the military in war zones. When a cargo truck was deliberately driven into crowds of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, in 2016, killing 80 people and injuring hundreds more, Whitford says there was a shift in ensuring the safety of the military to 'everyday people doing everyday activities.' The security company's star product, the Archer 1200 barrier set for Vancouver next month, was upgraded as a result to cater to the growing demand, he says. Adjustments were made to ensure it was mobile and easy to transport and allowed emergency access where needed. 'We combined all of that with the speed of deployment, so a one-person deployment will be able to shut down both ends of a street in under 10 minutes,' he said. The barriers are crash tested four to five times a year, and are available in over 20 different configurations to suit any and all manner of events. Whitford says the company works hard to ensure the barriers seamlessly blend into an event by having them rendered with the logo and colours of the city hosting them. 'It's that type of synergy that we work with, so they're not looking at something that is a war zone, they're looking at something that is complementary with what this city is trying to do,' he says. In the years since the attack in Nice in 2016, Meridian's barriers have become a regular fixture at parades and large-scale events around the States, including the Rose Parade in Pasadena on New Year's Day, the NFL Draft, the Super Bowl and the Grand Prix in Las Vegas, alongside those internationally. Whitfield says his company had provided the city of New Orleans with its 1200 Archer barriers before the devastating truck attack that took place on New Year's Day this year. The barriers that had been provided, however, were not deployed. If they had, the event would have had 'a very different' outcome, he says. 'We believe that there wouldn't have been the number of fatalities that existed,' says Whitford. 'So, when you have a product and you have equipment to protect people, you have to make sure that you are using it, and you have to determine what risks are going to be associated with what events,' he said, adding how there is a 'high sense of urgency' to guarantee such mass gatherings are protected.
Vancouver Sun
28-04-2025
- Automotive
- Vancouver Sun
U.S. company rushing to ship security barriers to Vancouver before marathon, after deadly festival attack
Article content A security company says it is speeding up the delivery of previously ordered vehicle-blocking barriers to Vancouver in time for this weekend's marathon, following last Saturday's deadly vehicle attack at a local street festival that left 11 people dead. Article content About two months ago, the Vancouver Police Department placed an order for mobile barriers, designed to block cars and keep people safe at public events, from a company called Meridian Rapid Defense Group, the company's CEO Peter Whitford said Monday. Article content Article content The 16 mobile barriers, along with two 'rapid gates' which are designed to enable access of emergency vehicles, were originally scheduled to be delivered to Vancouver the week of May 16, Whitford said. Article content Article content After Saturday's attack at the Lapu Lapu Day festival in east Vancouver, Meridian contacted the VPD to ask if the city could use the equipment for any major events before the planned delivery. Article content The company is now trying to rush the delivery of the barriers to Vancouver in time for the Vancouver Marathon scheduled for May 4, Whitford said. More than 25,000 participants are expected to take part in the marathon. Article content Meridian is not charging extra for the rush order, Whitford said. Article content 'We seek to help people,' Whitford said. 'It's about the work we do keeping people, communities and places safer that's at the forefront, not necessarily about the commercial reality.' Article content Article content When Meridian started in 2005, the company's original focus was supplying security products for the U.S. military in combat zones, Whitford said. Ever since a vehicle-ramming attack by terrorists in the French city of Nice killed more than 80 people in 2016, more of the company's business has shifted to supplying governments and law enforcement agencies with products to make public events safer. Article content Article content Municipal governments elsewhere in Canada have purchased Meridian's mobile barriers in recent years, Whitford said, and Vancouver is the first Canadian police department to do so. Article content 'The fact that they have seen an issue and have responded to that, they (the Vancouver police) should be commended for that. Yes, everybody, in hindsight, can say: 'Why didn't they do it back in 2004?' Whitford said. 'I don't think you're going to get any further by criticizing people for the timing that they make a decision. … I think that they should be applauded.'
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Yahoo
‘Back injuries' and ‘a tripping hazard': New Orleans officials still resisting anti-ramming barriers after deadly vehicle attack
At least some public safety officials in New Orleans evidently remain skeptical of easily deployable, 700lb steel barriers designed to prevent intentional vehicle ramming attacks – even after one carried out on the city's most famous street on New Year's Day killed 14 people and injured 67 others, according to a trove of government emails obtained by the Guardian. Received through a public records request, the emails detail how the inventor of so-called Archer barriers – which the city had bought but kept in storage on the day of the deadly Bourbon Street attack – encountered a measure of resistance when he traveled to New Orleans with his company of his own volition to train local authorities on how to expeditiously deploy the barricades. Police officers 'were not thrilled with the notion that they were responsible for deploying and breaking down the barriers' whenever they were going to be used, a process that on Bourbon Street could be completed in 20 minutes, Archer creator Peter Whitford wrote in an email to New Orleans' municipal director of homeland security and emergency preparedness, Collin Arnold. Related: Family of New Orleans attack survivor: 'They should've protected people better' 'The concern was about back injuries and police work versus public works [employees] doing the work,' Whitford wrote in the message, sent 12 days after the attack. Alluding to longstanding staffing shortages at the New Orleans police department, one of the officers 'expressed that this was not part of their job description, and if someone got injured then they would be down a person, and there is not enough resources to back fill'. Meanwhile, at another point, Arnold received an email from New Orleans' public safety and homeland security director, retired high-ranking police commander John Thomas, which described the Archer barriers from Whitford's Meridian Rapid Defense Group as 'very dangerous'. The email said the barriers pose 'a tripping hazard' and have 'sharp edges' that could hurt anyone pushed into them. The message also suggested the Archer barriers had little practical use if they are not 'movable quickly for emergencies' – which they are – and had to be permanently left in place upon being deployed, which they are not. Ultimately, as the city beefed up crowd security ahead of hosting the NFL's Super Bowl on 9 February and then prepared to host its annual celebration of Carnival culminating in Mardi Gras on 4 March, New Orleans officials have used their Archer barriers in certain spots rather than stowing them away. Yet an announced agreement for the barriers to shield large sections of New Orleans' main Mardi Gras parade route was later scuttled, Whitford said in a recent interview. Police officials declined to comment on the emails related to the Archer barriers, citing various investigations into the Bourbon Street attack as well as pending litigation from injured victims or families of the slain who have accused the city of failing to adequately protect New Year's revelers. But Whitford faulted a disagreement over the division of labor for the New Orleans government's palpable skepticism to a type of barrier that on New Year's Day 2024 prevented a woman with a history of mental illness from plowing a car into a crowd of spectators at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, where the Meridian firm is based. 'Where the benefit for everyone would be is police should be doing police work, fire should be doing fire work and emergency services should be providing emergency services,' Whitford said. 'And I think public works or the private sector should be responsible for putting out equipment' like the Archer barriers. Spokespeople for New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration did not respond to a request for comment. The administration ostensibly oversees a municipal government division tasked with 'providing physical security at … events', and it has the authority to enter into arrangements with private service providers. New Orleans acquired 41 Archer barriers in 2017 under the administration of Cantrell's mayoral predecessor, Mitch Landrieu, as part of a $40m public safety package implemented as a countermeasure to deadly car rammings aimed at crowds in Nice, Berlin, London, New York and Barcelona. Nonetheless, when crowds descended on Bourbon Street to celebrate the beginning of 2025 less than two weeks after a deadly truck attack at a German Christmas market, New Orleans officials left their Archer barriers stowed away. Officials also left down two other kinds of blockades meant to protect crowds from motorists meaning them harm – road-blocking, cylindrical bollards and a wedge barrier that can be hydraulically raised or lowered in seconds. City officials had varied explanations when confronted after a former US military member sympathetic to the Islamic State (IS) terror group's cause drove a pickup truck up three blocks of Bourbon Street, killing or injuring more than 70 people before he crashed and was killed in a shootout with police. They said the bollards needed repairs after being worn down by the rigors of one of the world's most zealously festive thoroughfares. The wedge barrier allegedly had a history of malfunctioning, though the manufacturer later said the city essentially ignored its offer to inspect and repair the product if necessary. As for the Archer barriers, six days after the attack, Arnold went on a local radio station and conceded that they are effective at tilting back if struck by a motorist, getting 'tangled under the vehicle and dig[ging] into the street and … [doing] a massive amount of damage'. He complained, however, that 'moving them takes significant effort that must be thought of a couple of days before'. 'And once they're deployed, moving them takes usually two to three people,' he added. Two days after Arnold's remarks, the president of an independent government watchdog group sent an email to LeJon Roberts, the New Orleans police commander in charge of officers patrolling Bourbon Street and the surrounding French Quarter neighborhood. The email from the president of the New Orleans metropolitan crime commission, Rafael Goyeneche, contained a link to a YouTube video which showed a woman with gray hair effortlessly and single-handedly pushing and pulling an Archer barrier, using equipment from Meridian allowing one to assemble what is essentially a hand dolly cart. 'Do you have access [to] these?' Goyeneche wrote. Roberts replied: 'The two we have are inoperable due to damage.' The reply conspicuously did not say when police realized they were broken – or if they took steps to either repair or replace them. Asked for comment on that exchange, Goyeneche said he recalled trading emails with Roberts but declined to elaborate much. He did say he got the impression that this equipment 'must have been put away and forgotten about' – and that he thought it was unusual this 'type of stuff … [would be] the police department's responsibility'. Meanwhile, Whitford described initially having repeated telephone calls to various city officials unreturned after the attack. He eventually got through to Arnold, who on 9 January informed Cantrell and other members of her staff that Meridian would come to town to update the city's supply of Archers. The company would also 'set them up appropriately and provide training' to police, Arnold wrote. It was in the ensuing days when Whitford encountered officers' concerns about possible back injuries and musings about whether other municipal employees were better suited for the work. Despite that, during Super Bowl week and in advance of Carnival, Meridian's barriers have been seen along Bourbon Street and at other spots in the French Quarter. That included the city's Jackson Square and nearby St Louis cathedral, where light shows were projected on the building's exterior. They were also seen erected outside New Orleans' Saenger Theater, which hosted the NFL Honors ceremony recognizing the league's best from the preceding season. Meridian then announced that the city had agreed to rent about 900 additional barriers to protect the city's traditional Mardi Gras parade route largely along its iconic St Charles Avenue in time for when the peak of the festive season kicked off on 21 February. Emails showed the arrangement would cost the city $200 a barrier for each day of parades, with any Meridian staffers hired to oversee specific access points costing a daily fee of $750. Whitford said the city expressed a willingness to pay for the arrangement. But a disagreement over whether to completely ban vehicular traffic along the route at certain times on days with parades – rather than only on the side of the street used by the floats and marching units – prompted Meridian and New Orleans officials to effectively cancel the agreement. After hiring former New York and Los Angeles police chief William Bratton to harden its security plans for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, city officials have lined the side of St Charles open to motorists ahead of parades with water-filled barricades designed to serve as impediments that drivers must slow down to get around. The barriers are arrayed to create what is known as a 'serpentine' traffic pattern – or, in car racing parlance, a series of chicanes. Officials have also resorted to lining the St Charles median – or, as New Orleans refers to it, the neutral ground – where many spectators gather early to watch parades with concrete barriers, which can be effective in deflecting sidelong blows from cars. WWL Louisiana also reported that Cantrell is considering making Bourbon Street exclusively for pedestrians rather than continuing to permit car traffic at times when crowds aren't as dense. Unlike Archer barriers, Whitford said, neither concrete nor water-filled barricades are certified by the US's homeland security department under a congressional act incentivizing anti-terrorism technology. Yet Whitford said he was glad the city had implemented those measures at least, when in years past neither were present. 'They have made some improvements in safety – it's reasonable to say that,' Whitford said that. 'For it to be the safest possible, it would be shutting down [the route] entirely. 'And the city is heading in that direction. But they have still made a decision not to make this a pedestrian [only] event; they've made a decision to allow some vehicle traffic.'
The Guardian
28-02-2025
- The Guardian
‘Back injuries' and ‘a tripping hazard': New Orleans officials still resisting anti-ramming barriers after deadly vehicle attack
At least some public safety officials in New Orleans evidently remain skeptical of easily deployable, 700lb steel barriers designed to prevent intentional vehicle ramming attacks – even after one carried out on the city's most famous street on New Year's Day killed 14 people and injured 67 others, according to a trove of government emails obtained by the Guardian. Received through a public records request, the emails detail how the inventor of so-called Archer barriers – which the city had bought but kept in storage on the day of the deadly Bourbon Street attack – encountered a measure of resistance when he traveled to New Orleans with his company of his own volition to train local authorities on how to expeditiously deploy the barricades. Police officers 'were not thrilled with the notion that they were responsible for deploying and breaking down the barriers' whenever they were going to be used, a process that on Bourbon Street could be completed in 20 minutes, Archer creator Peter Whitford wrote in an email to New Orleans' municipal director of homeland security and emergency preparedness, Collin Arnold. 'The concern was about back injuries and police work versus public works [employees] doing the work,' Whitford wrote in the message, sent 12 days after the attack. Alluding to longstanding staffing shortages at the New Orleans police department, one of the officers 'expressed that this was not part of their job description, and if someone got injured then they would be down a person, and there is not enough resources to back fill'. Meanwhile, at another point, Arnold received an email from New Orleans' public safety and homeland security director, retired high-ranking police commander John Thomas, which described the Archer barriers from Whitford's Meridian Rapid Defense Group as 'very dangerous'. The email said the barriers pose 'a tripping hazard' and have 'sharp edges' that could hurt anyone pushed into them. The message also suggested the Archer barriers had little practical use if they are not 'movable quickly for emergencies' – which they are – and had to be permanently left in place upon being deployed, which they are not. Ultimately, as the city beefed up crowd security ahead of hosting the NFL's Super Bowl on 9 February and then prepared to host its annual celebration of Carnival culminating in Mardi Gras on 4 March, New Orleans officials have used their Archer barriers in certain spots rather than stowing them away. Yet an announced agreement for the barriers to shield large sections of New Orleans' main Mardi Gras parade route was later scuttled, Whitford said in a recent interview. Police officials declined to comment on the emails related to the Archer barriers, citing various investigations into the Bourbon Street attack as well as pending litigation from injured victims or families of the slain who have accused the city of failing to adequately protect New Year's revelers. But Whitford faulted a disagreement over the division of labor for the New Orleans government's palpable skepticism to a type of barrier that on New Year's Day 2024 prevented a woman with a history of mental illness from plowing a car into a crowd of spectators at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, where the Meridian firm is based. 'Where the benefit for everyone would be is police should be doing police work, fire should be doing fire work and emergency services should be providing emergency services,' Whitford said. 'And I think public works or the private sector should be responsible for putting out equipment' like the Archer barriers. Spokespeople for New Orleans mayor LaToya Cantrell's administration did not respond to a request for comment. The administration ostensibly oversees a municipal government division tasked with 'providing physical security at … events', and it has the authority to enter into arrangements with private service providers. New Orleans acquired 41 Archer barriers in 2017 under the administration of Cantrell's mayoral predecessor, Mitch Landrieu, as part of a $40m public safety package implemented as a countermeasure to deadly car rammings aimed at crowds in Nice, Berlin, London, New York and Barcelona. Nonetheless, when crowds descended on Bourbon Street to celebrate the beginning of 2025 less than two weeks after a deadly truck attack at a German Christmas market, New Orleans officials left their Archer barriers stowed away. Officials also left down two other kinds of blockades meant to protect crowds from motorists meaning them harm – road-blocking, cylindrical bollards and a wedge barrier that can be hydraulically raised or lowered in seconds. City officials had varied explanations when confronted after a former US military member sympathetic to the Islamic State (IS) terror group's cause drove a pickup truck up three blocks of Bourbon Street, killing or injuring more than 70 people before he crashed and was killed in a shootout with police. They said the bollards needed repairs after being worn down by the rigors of one of the world's most zealously festive thoroughfares. The wedge barrier allegedly had a history of malfunctioning, though the manufacturer later said the city essentially ignored its offer to inspect and repair the product if necessary. As for the Archer barriers, six days after the attack, Arnold went on a local radio station and conceded that they are effective at tilting back if struck by a motorist, getting 'tangled under the vehicle and dig[ging] into the street and … [doing] a massive amount of damage'. He complained, however, that 'moving them takes significant effort that must be thought of a couple of days before'. 'And once they're deployed, moving them takes usually two to three people,' he added. Two days after Arnold's remarks, the president of an independent government watchdog group sent an email to LeJon Roberts, the New Orleans police commander in charge of officers patrolling Bourbon Street and the surrounding French Quarter neighborhood. The email from the president of the New Orleans metropolitan crime commission, Rafael Goyeneche, contained a link to a YouTube video which showed a woman with gray hair effortlessly and single-handedly pushing and pulling an Archer barrier, using equipment from Meridian allowing one to assemble what is essentially a hand dolly cart. 'Do you have access [to] these?' Goyeneche wrote. Roberts replied: 'The two we have are inoperable due to damage.' The reply conspicuously did not say when police realized they were broken – or if they took steps to either repair or replace them. Asked for comment on that exchange, Goyeneche said he recalled trading emails with Roberts but declined to elaborate much. He did say he got the impression that this equipment 'must have been put away and forgotten about' – and that he thought it was unusual this 'type of stuff … [would be] the police department's responsibility'. Meanwhile, Whitford described initially having repeated telephone calls to various city officials unreturned after the attack. He eventually got through to Arnold, who on 9 January informed Cantrell and other members of her staff that Meridian would come to town to update the city's supply of Archers. The company would also 'set them up appropriately and provide training' to police, Arnold wrote. It was in the ensuing days when Whitford encountered officers' concerns about possible back injuries and musings about whether other municipal employees were better suited for the work. Despite that, during Super Bowl week and in advance of Carnival, Meridian's barriers have been seen along Bourbon Street and at other spots in the French Quarter. That included the city's Jackson Square and nearby St Louis cathedral, where light shows were projected on the building's exterior. They were also seen erected outside New Orleans' Saenger Theater, which hosted the NFL Honors ceremony recognizing the league's best from the preceding season. Meridian then announced that the city had agreed to rent about 900 additional barriers to protect the city's traditional Mardi Gras parade route largely along its iconic St Charles Avenue in time for when the peak of the festive season kicked off on 21 February. Emails showed the arrangement would cost the city $200 a barrier for each day of parades, with any Meridian staffers hired to oversee specific access points costing a daily fee of $750. Whitford said the city expressed a willingness to pay for the arrangement. But a disagreement over whether to completely ban vehicular traffic along the route at certain times on days with parades – rather than only on the side of the street used by the floats and marching units – prompted Meridian and New Orleans officials to effectively cancel the agreement. After hiring former New York and Los Angeles police chief William Bratton to harden its security plans for the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras, city officials have lined the side of St Charles open to motorists ahead of parades with water-filled barricades designed to serve as impediments that drivers must slow down to get around. The barriers are arrayed to create what is known as a 'serpentine' traffic pattern – or, in car racing parlance, a series of chicanes. Officials have also resorted to lining the St Charles median – or, as New Orleans refers to it, the neutral ground – where many spectators gather early to watch parades with concrete barriers, which can be effective in deflecting sidelong blows from cars. WWL Louisiana also reported that Cantrell is considering making Bourbon Street exclusively for pedestrians rather than continuing to permit car traffic at times when crowds aren't as dense. Unlike Archer barriers, Whitford said, neither concrete nor water-filled barricades are certified by the US's homeland security department under a congressional act incentivizing anti-terrorism technology. Yet Whitford said he was glad the city had implemented those measures at least, when in years past neither were present. 'They have made some improvements in safety – it's reasonable to say that,' Whitford said that. 'For it to be the safest possible, it would be shutting down [the route] entirely. 'And the city is heading in that direction. But they have still made a decision not to make this a pedestrian [only] event; they've made a decision to allow some vehicle traffic.'
