For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
Partnership with Minnesota Will Also Bring Campaign Statewide
WASHINGTON—Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Janet Napolitano, in partnership with Mall of America and the state of Minnesota, today applauded the expansion of DHS’ national “If You See Something, Say Something” public awareness campaign throughout Minnesota—to include Mall of America as well as other public venues across the state.
“Homeland security begins with hometown security, and every citizen plays an important role in ensuring America’s safety,” said Secretary Napolitano. “The ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign will provide the citizens of Minnesota and the many shoppers and visitors to Mall of America with the tools to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper law enforcement authorities.”
The “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign—originally implemented by New York City’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority and funded, in part, by $13 million from DHS’ Transit Security Grant Program—is a simple and effective program to engage the public and key frontline employees to identify and report indicators of terrorism, crime and other threats to the proper transportation and law enforcement authorities.
The expansion of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign to Mall of America will include both print and video advertisements throughout the mall’s shopping and amusement park areas to help the thousands of daily tourists and shoppers to identify potential threats and suspicious situations. “If You See Something, Say Something” materials were unveiled at Mall of America today by DHS Protective Security Advisory Glenn Sanders, Mall of America Security Director Major Doug Reynolds, Hennepin County Sheriff Rich Stanek and Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner Michael Campion.
“We are excited to partner with Mall of America and the Department of Homeland Security on their ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign,” said Commissioner Campion. “We value our private partners and the work they do. Their efforts will go a long way to enhancing our statewide ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign.”
The state-wide expansion of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign will begin in Minneapolis and St. Paul and will leverage Minnesota’s participation in the Nationwide Suspicious Activity Reporting (SAR) Initiative—an administration effort to train state and local law enforcement to recognize behaviors and indicators related to specific terrorist threats and related crime.
Since this summer, DHS has worked with its state, local and private sector partners, as well as the Department of Justice, to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign and Nationwide SAR Initiative to communities throughout the country—including the recent state-wide expansion of the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign throughout New Jersey and new partnerships with organizations including the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the general aviation industry and six state and local fusion centers across the Southeastern United States that participate in Southern Shield.
In the coming months, the Department will continue to expand the “If You See Something, Say Something” campaign nationally with public education materials and outreach tools designed to engage America’s businesses, communities and citizens to remain vigilant and play an active role in keeping the county safe.
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