In Wake Of Attacks, U.S. Cities Step Up Terrorism Simulations

The recent attacks in Paris and San Bernardino have put pressure on local authorities to show they're ready for that kind of violence. Some jurisdictions, such as Los Angeles, are stepping up exercises and terrorism simulations.

There's a hill near downtown L.A. — it's kind of a mesa, overlooking Dodger Stadium. There's a big parking lot up there — and right around 3 p.m. last Friday, the lot started filling up with police cars.

This is a "muster" — a surprise test by the L.A. Police Department brass to see how quickly they could get their on-duty police to converge at a central point. The cops show up already wearing helmets and ballistic vests and carrying their big guns — there a few hundred of them, and as they form up into ranks, they look like an army. The deputy chief in charge of counter-terrorism, Michael Downing, steps up to a microphone and delivers a speech about how peace officers sometimes have to act like soldiers.

"For that small amount of time that we're asking you to go out and interdict and put down a threat, you become a soldier," he says, as a police helicopter swings in overhead, with two tactical officers hanging off the side, looking armed and ready. "When you're involved in your mission, you're gonna have these guys above you."

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