In today’s world, terrorism is a real and ever present threat. A new addition, however, is vehicles being used to conduct these deadly acts. If you Google Barcelona, New York or Charlottesville preceded by the word “terror,” you would be presented with pages upon pages of articles about deadly attacks using cars or other vehicles.

Unsurprisingly, these events have caused law enforcement officials to scramble to find new ways to protect crowds at outdoor events. The most recent and relevant of which are both the 2017 Chicago Marathon and the 2017 Magnificent Mile Festival of Lights.

It should be of no surprise that these events included a significant police presence as authorities have been seeking out any possible solution to counter the threat of vehicular terror attacks. One specific solution appears to be trending in the crowd safety world: large municipal vehicles.

An article posted on October 8 detailed the security measures taken at the Chicago Marathon in which the city used additional fencing and barricades which include snow plows and garbage trucks in order to keep fans on the ground safe.

More recently, security was also tightened at the BMO Magnificent Mile Lights Festival. Here, increased security included road closures on the side streets and snow plow trucks to block any potential vehicle attack on the crowd.

These precautions were clear actions to deter any attempt at terrorism. Snow plows have been some of the largest available vehicles, weighing in at around 59,000 pounds, with most streets utilizing two of them parked perpendicularly to the direction of traffic and parallel to Michigan Avenue. This allowed for very little wiggle room for anyone wishing to do harm to innocent people along the parade route.

Though vehicular attacks in other cities and large events have been deadly, they have taught other cities crucial lessons in how to protect crowds at large scale events. The precautions taken by the City of Chicago OEMC were efficiently and concisely executed in a way that allowed parade goers to feel safe, even in a crowd of thousands.

But what is next for crowd safety in this world where cars are used as weapons? There is only so much the police force can do to protect individuals from attacks. In a world where anything is possible, the police must provide new solutions. With the problems threatening the world at this point in time, the world must continue to adapt to a new and ever changing danger that is terrorism.