By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
Mayor Liz Lempert on Monday said local police would be helped by the county Sheriff’s Department to handle security for the Communiversity street fair Sunday, an event that draws a crowd larger than the entire population of Princeton., “They have a routine now for whenever we have a big event,” she told reporters in comments about a street fair that attracts more than 40,000 people into downtown., “We’ll take precautions that involve keeping the area secure, looking for anything suspicious – suspicious packages and such – and we do always ask the public’s help in reporting anything suspicious,” police Chief Nicholas K. Sutter said Monday., He said there has been no threat made against Communiversity, scheduled, rain or shine, from 1 to 6 p.m., “It’s just an unfortunate characteristic of the world we live in that we must think in these ways and prepare for the worst,” Chief Sutter said, “but we expect to have a great and safe day.”, Communiversity is an annual part of springtime in Princeton, a day of fun and food that brings town and gown together. Yet law enforcement remain vigilant, at at time when Chief Sutter said “things are changing so rapidly in today’s world, with the different types of attacks that are taking place.”, “So we can’t afford to prepare the same way every year,” he said. “We have to take all the intelligence information that we have and different things that we learn from events around the world and apply them here.”, Mayor Lempert was asked whether she had any trepidation having an event in town with that many people, given recent high profile terrorist attacks in public venues, like in Europe., “Unfortunately, it’s the world we live in,” she said. “I know that our police follow best practices, they do all the precautions that they can so the rest of us don’t have to worry about it.”, Princeton University spokesman Dan Day said Monday that the university’s Department of Public Safety coordinates with the Princeton Police Department on big events like this. He would not discuss security details, “for operational reasons.”, Mayor Lempert said the town would have its bomb dog at the event, as in the past. “That’s true for any big event,” she said.
