Times Square, French consulates and sports stadiums saw increased security but authorities noted the stepped-up patrols were out of an abundance of caution following the Paris terror attacks that killed at least 129 people.
Consulates in New York and Boston received extra security along with French-owned sites in Washington. But elsewhere, like Minnesota's Mall of America, it was business as usual.
"I think like all New Yorkers we feel solidarity, we know how this feels; it hits home personally," said Ronnie De La Cruz, who was born in Paris but has lived in the United States since the 1960s. After leaving a floral tribute at the French Consulate on Fifth Avenue, across from Central Park, he shrugged off any concerns about security.
"I think that certainly here in New York is probably about as best as it can be," he said.
Sports venues were mindful of security in response to the attacks, which included suicide bombings outside the Stade de France during a soccer match between France and Germany.
Guards at the Naval Academy's game against Southern Methodist University randomly selected people to screen with metal detectors and fans were asked to unzip their coats before entering Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Police in Los Angeles said they would beef up patrols for UCLA's game against Washington State at the Rose Bowl Stadium and a cricket match at Dodger Stadium.
The National Football League said it had been in contact with the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI and planned increased security inside and outside stadiums today.
League officials discouraged fans from bringing bags. New York Gov Andrew Cuomo said the State Police, National Guard and other agencies were on a heightened state of alert.
The New York Police Department deployed its "Critical Response Command" officers equipped with heavy weapons and other tactical equipment to important locations including transportation hubs and the Broadway theater district.
Officers with radiation detectors and bomb-detecting equipment were sent to subway stations and were randomly conducting bag checks.
"This is not the kind of thing that is a wakeup call to New York City," John Miller, the department's deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said of the Paris attacks during a news conference yesterday afternoon. "We've been awake about this for a long time."
In Washington, DC, additional law enforcement officers were deployed to French-owned sites and other high-profile locations out of "an abundance of caution," said police spokesman Officer Sean Hickman. In Boston, the Massachusetts State Police said there was "a comprehensive and multi-layered security package" in place at Logan International Airport where most of hijackers boarded planes on September 11, 2001 and enhanced patrols near the State House.
