Atlanta

Security expert warns 'soft targets' to increase security

ATLANTA — Sunday's horrific nightclub shooting in Orlando is forcing local business owners to take another look at their security measures.

“It’s hard to process,” said Latiesa Alford, security director for Magic City, in southwest Atlanta. “For us, we just have to continue to step up our game.”

The busy club has seen its share of drama over the years, but Alford says the Orlando massacre was a big-time wake-up call.

[LIST: Victims identified in Orlando shooting massacre]

"Yeah there's a few areas that I decided we need to tweak and make them a little better, look pronounced. Some you will be able to see and some you won't,” Alford said.

From nightclubs to coffee shops to supermarkets and malls, metro Atlanta is full of so-called “soft targets.” %

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“We’re living in a different world,” said local private security contractor Brent Brown, with Chesley Brown Companies.

Brown renewed his call Monday for all soft target owners and operators to establish a well-trained, highly visible security presence to, if nothing else, make would-be attackers think twice.

“They want to make a point. They want to have as much destruction as they possibly can. If they see that target is too hard for them to make enough impact for them to take their life, they're going to move down the street. They're going to move to a different target,” Brown said.

Brown says it’s time for all businesses to accept this grim reality and act on it.

“They can't look at it as simply a cost. They've got to look at it as a cost of doing business and staying alive,” he said.

GBI, FBI staying on top of potential threats in Georgia

Since the shooting in Orlando, the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation say they’ve seen an uptick in calls from people giving them information throughout the state.

“Our analysts are vetting that information to share with our partners,” said GBI special agent in charge Brad Parks, of the Georgia Information Sharing and Analysis Center, or GISAC. “Basically we are looking at any type of information that comes in, does it have any type of terrorism nexus."

[STORY: Pres. Obama: No signs Orlando shooter was part of larger plot]

The FBI field office in Atlanta sent an evidence response team, consisting of about a dozen special agents and support staff, to Orlando.

“They’ve been involved in numerous high-profile investigations and have proven themselves,” said FBI agent Steve Emmett.

Emmett says his office is working to stay on top of potential terror threats in Georgia.

“Obviously, in Atlanta, we’re interested in any intel that comes out of this investigation in Orlando. Currently, there's no nexus to Atlanta,” Emmett said.

“We have not found any terrorism threat in Georgia, as of today,” Parks said.

Parks says self-radicalized ISIS sympathizers, which is what Mateen appears to have been, can be tougher to track than members of an organized cell.

“We don't hear their chatter,” Parks said.

Emmett and Parks say the FBI and GBI count on everyday folks to keep their eyes peeled for what's out of place and call it in.

“Very well one person could make the difference in an actual attack,” Parks said.

Emmett says law enforcement will have heightened focus on Atlanta’s famous pride parade and other big-crowd events like the upcoming Peachtree Road Race.

“We'd be remiss as a law enforcement agency to overlook what has happened,” Emmett said.

Parks says the uptick was not in calls specific to the Orlando incident but he suspects it is inspired by what happened in Orlando.

He confirms previous information through GISAC has led to people with suspected terrorism ties.