WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — Less than a week before the Boston Marathon takes place, the city’s law enforcement ramped up security to prepare for the event, Boston Police Department spokesperson Sergeant Michael McCarthy told Sputnik on Tuesday.
“We will have additional officers assigned to both the route and plain clothes officers in the crowd and we will be coordinating with other local and federal partners,” McCarty said, adding that the security plan will be similar to last year’s marathon.
The Boston Police Department is encouraging spectators not to bring bags near the finish line, and anybody with a bag will undergo additional inspection.
The Department said several streets will also be closed off to traffic and made available to pedestrians.
Last week, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was found guilty of all on all 30 counts for his role in the bombing, 17 of which carry the death penalty.
The jury is expected to start deliberations on whether Tsarnaev should receive the death penalty or life sentence on April 21. The jurors have been ordered not to attend this year's race, a US federal judge said during a brief hearing on Tuesday.
The 21-year-old Tsarnaev was convicted, among other things, of planting the two pressure cooker bombs at the Boston Marathon and the murder of Massachusetts Institute of Technology Police Officer Sean Collier.
Tsarnaev's older brother Tamerlan, who helped Dzhokhar prepare and carry out the attack, was killed in a police shootout four days after the bombings.
