http://www.projo.com/news/content/Ne...1.19415c7.html

PROVIDENCE

Agents evacuate Kennedy Plaza on report of ‘suspicious’ package

Kennedy Plaza was cleared at the height of rush hour Wednesday afternoon because a suspicious package was reported while federal agents were conducting a random visibility exercise.

Joe Salter, Rhode Island’s federal security director for the Department of Homeland Security, said the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) routinely sends agents to transportation centers such as the RIPTA hub at Kennedy Plaza, or the airport, train station, Peter Pan bus terminal and the debarkation point for cruise ships in Newport, in uniforms clearly marking them as federal agents.

FBI agents and Civilian Support Team members in jackets marked CST, stood at the federal end of the plaza, facing City Hall, between 4:30 and 5 p.m. Buses came and went.

While the federal agents were being intentionally visible, Salter said, a Providence police officer reported a suspicious package. The Providence police bomb squad was called, and FBI agents asked commuters to move back toward City Hall. Providence officers arrived and directed everyone into Burnside Park. They cordoned off the bus hub. Buses were directed to Exchange Terrace, where passengers were able to board.

Fire Department ladder trucks waited at the Bank of America building. The police diverted traffic from the plaza.

Bomb squad members Lincoln Sisson and Scott Keenan arrived, inspected the package and determined it was not a threat, Providence police Sgt. Robert Boehn said. He said the incident was not a drill.

Salter said that during the TSA’s routine operation, a police officer “observed a package he deemed suspicious ... There was an orderly evacuation ... The item was deemed to be non-threatening.”

Visibility exercises are intended to prevent terrorism, Salter said. Sometimes the TSA deploys undercover behavior detection officers, he said.