Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Dallas Police Threatened, Security Raised. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired July 09, 2016 - 19:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

[19:00:06] OFFICER: Assist officer. Shots fired. Officer down.

(GUNSHOTS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is that a cop dead? Dude, that's a cop down.

CHIEF DAVID BROWN, DALLAS POLICE DEPARTMENT: The suspect said he was upset about Black Lives Matter. He said he was upset about the recent police shootings.

We're hurting. Our profession is hurting. Dallas officers are hurting.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We as a country must come together, lock arms, and heal the wounds that we all feel from time to time.

LORETTA LYNCH, ATTORNEY GENERAL: And to all Americans, I implore you, do not let this week precipitate a new normal in this country. I ask you to turn to each other, not against each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jim Sciutto in Washington.

We have breaking news right now from a city already shaken by unspeakable tragedy. Dallas, Texas, witnesses are reporting that police headquarters in Dallas is on lockdown. Security across the city has been raised, that after sources tell CNN that a threat, an anonymous threat was made against the police department. But that threat being taken very seriously right now.

An official source inside the police department there telling CNN, this just a few minutes ago, that the police department is taking, quote, "precautionary measures now". We are watching Dallas. We will update you as we hear those developments. It's not even been two days since that gunman opened fire on a protest crowd in Dallas, killing those five police officers.

So again, let me tell you what we know at this point, that is that the Dallas Police Department has placed the city on heightened security. This after receiving an anonymous threat against the police department. We've been told that media are being moved away from the front of the police headquarters there, and law enforcement seen assembling.

We have Martin Savidge, our own Martin Savidge. He has been at that police headquarters all day.

Martin, what can you tell us about what's happening right now?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Jim, it's a heavy police presence that's appeared around the headquarters downtown. They have the street which runs right in front of the building blocked off to traffic. There are police officers that are now out of their squad cars, and also a lot of police officers that have shown up on bicycles.

There's more vehicles that are arriving. Now they've got flashing lights on. It's very clear that, you know, there is a heightened posture of security here. In fact, I'm right across the street from the memorial site, and they've temporarily stopped me from even going the 25 yards.

So, it's quite clear that for whatever reason, they are on edge. Guns are not drawn. But the officers are out, and there is a very heavy presence here. Exactly how this was triggered or how serious this threat is remains to be seen. But in a city that has suffered such a severe shock and blow, no one is going to take any threat lightly, Jim.

SCIUTTO: No question. If you're just joining us now, the Dallas police have received an anonymous threat that they say they are taking seriously, a threat to the police department there.

Our Martin Savidge is in front of the police headquarters.

Now, Martin, as we talked to you earlier this afternoon, we saw dozens of people coming to visit that memorial that has come up in front of the police department there. Have police now moved those citizens, those residents away as a precaution?

SAVIDGE: Right. You do not see any of the, you know, public that is in front of, you know, that memorial, as they were. It's clear that there are -- you know, again, they're causing us to go back, even to get back on the sidewalk. So we have to comply here and just get back. We'll monitor this from my position. But, yes, you don't see the public as they were.

Now, there are people there. And essentially the way it's working right now, apparently, is that if you are right in front of the building, you can stay there. If you weren't, which I wasn't at the time, you can't go back, which means literally even if you're across the street.

So this shows you that they're concerned and they're being very, very cautious, and understandably so. But again, you've got police cruisers that are blocking the street. It appears -- I'll just take a look down the side streets here.

The side streets are also immediately around the headquarters, close to traffic. And they have brought in more reinforcements. Again, we do not see anyone with guns drawn.

[19:05:02] We just see that they are now on the street. That they are clearly watching, looking out from the building. And I imagine, you know, even on side streets, probably outside of my view, there are more police vehicles. And I would bet that somewhere nearby is a squad staging area, because that would just be standard practice, if you believe that there is a threat, you're going to bring in those forces that are specialized in treating it.

SCIUTTO: And, Martin, just so our viewers -- because our live shot is down now there, partly because of this response to this threat, we can't see it, but if you can describe it. They're saying, people can stay in the front of the police headquarters, but not elsewhere?

Can you explain why that might be? I mean, is it shielded in some way there? Explain what areas they're keeping people away from.

SAVIDGE: I'm sorry, Jim. We're just trying to get into position here. So, give me a moment.

SCIUTTO: That's our Martin Savidge on the phone. He is outside the Dallas police headquarters there, responding -- he, members of the public, responding as the police have now put this area on heightened alert after receiving, we are told from sources in the police department, an anonymous threat.

They are reacting there. They're moving members of the public away, including the media. We have our Martin Savidge there. We're going to keep him on the phone.

Meanwhile, I have CNN law enforcement analyst, Art Roderick. He himself is a former assistant director of the U.S. Marshall's office. I also have commentator Ben Ferguson. He is the host of "The Ferguson Show".

But, Art, I want to -- he's also in Dallas as well. But, Art, I want to take advantage of your law enforcement experience here. Based on what we're seeing and hearing, they'll take any threat seriously given wt happened 24 hours ago. In these police movements, moving away, what does that tell you about what they're dealing with?

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Jim, they absolutely have to take this threat seriously. I mean, not only do we have what occurred in Dallas, but over the ours we've had six other police ambush shootings around the country, to include Tennessee, Georgia, and Missouri. So, this -- you know, we were concerned when this occurred that there would be these copycat incidences occurring. So what you see now is they're basically blockading the police station.

We don't know exactly what the current threat is. Is it just to law enforcement in general or is it to the actual police headquarters? That hopefully will come out here very soon. But you're right, I mean, Martin's right, that they probably do have an SWAT team, several SWAT teams staged in different areas of the city based upon what this threat is.

SCIUTTO: OK, Art, please hold that thought, because we're going to go back to Martin Savidge who is outside the Dallas police headquarters there.

Martin, what are you seeing and hearing now? And crucially, what are the police telling you?

SAVIDGE: Well, the police aren't saying anything, actually, Jim. They're simply warning everyone to stay in place. You can tell they are very much on edge.

Here you can see the police vehicles here that are directly in front of the main intersection, that's Lamar and Bellevue. Right over here is where you can see where the police headquarters are. And you can see the memorial in the background. So this is the area that right now is being focused upon. And this is the area that has been locked down, if you will.

And the rules are, if you were inside this perimeter when this lockdown went into place, then you're staying there. If you're not, if you're on the outside, you are not allowed in. And this posture has been in place for some time.

The street is closed. You can see there are police vehicles that are moving and shifting around. As I say, it's pretty safe to say you've got other forces that are being staged in other areas. So that, you know, you would have a circumference, you would have all these different circles of security going out.

Now, again, it depends on what area was threatened. If it was a generic threat against the PD, maybe you would focus on this area for security. If there's another specific target, well, you can bet they're focusing there. We don't see air assets up. The reason for that could be weather too, because we've had storms that are passing through. But you would expect that perhaps you'd see police helicopters up over the area as well.

But right now, you can tell that the police presence is here. Guns are not drawn. It's just you can tell their heads are on a swivel, and they are looking in all directions, and they're being extremely, extremely cautious.

The public's not being stopped. You can see, you know, they're still moving down the streets here. And the outlying businesses are still open. It is just the businesses or the roadways, I should say, in front of this headquarters that had been brought to a standstill. And there's a lot of police, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Martin, learning from that, and again, let me remind our viewers what we know and what we don't know.

[19:10:02] We do know there is a heightened security alert. We do know they've received an anonymous threat. We do not know of a specific threat. We do not know that Martin, my colleague, and others are in danger there.

But, Martin, I see people -- I see a police car. I was going to say I see people standing up, I don't see the police hunched behind their cruisers. They're letting people walk through. They wouldn't let people do that if there was an active shooter.

SAVIDGE: Correct, right. You're not in a situation where people are using their vehicles for shelter and weapons are out. So, you're right, it doesn't appear that someone is in the immediate area that's either been seen I can't weapon or is somehow threatening directly. This appears to be more of, you've received some kind of intel, gotten some kind of information that's come in, you've deemed it serious enough that you needed to create some kind of response, some kind of protected perimeter, and that is what you see getting established here, and you that's why you saw the vehicles repositioning. It's clear that they're setting up a little farther down the street, just take a look in that direction. You can see police vehicles are moving down there.

So, is this sort of like, okay, we need to push the perimeter out, or is there something down there? If you try to talk to police, they're in no mood to talk, and you understand why, they've got a job to do, to focus right now on security.

SCIUTTO: Well, the fact is maybe they don't know. And they're doing their best to find out, and meanwhile they're taking every precaution.

Martin Savidge, please stay there, and crucially, please stay safe. Listen to the police as they talk to you.

I have one update I'm going to share. We're just learning that DART, this is the Dallas mass transit service, is suspending service at the Cedar Station, this is the stops near the Dallas police headquarters there.

I want to bring back Art Roderick again. He's a CNN analyst. He's also a long time assistant director of the U.S. Marshals Service.

Help piece this together, what you see, what you don't see, Art. What can we learn from that? They're on alert. They're not hiding behind their cruisers. They're not telling people to run away or crouch down.

What's your best assessment?

RODERICK: I think they have some specific threat, because it also doesn't sound like it's any type of bomb threat, otherwise they would have cleared that whole area out. It's very odd that they're keeping a perimeter there and keeping people inside the perimeter. I don't know if they're interviewing those people or not, or trying to I.D. them, or them safe and keeping some distance between them and opening this perimeter up.

So, it's sort of an unusual circumstance that they're allowing people to stay within the perimeter around the police station there, around the memorial. SCIUTTO: Maybe they don't have a choice.

RODERICK: They might not.

SCIUTTO: I remember being in Paris after the terror attacks there. In the days afterwards, really, a pin dropping would be enough to get the police to react, the crowds to react. They're going to take threats like this seriously.

Go ahead.

RODERICK: We have that exact atmosphere here right now. We just spent the whole day up there at the police station. It was pretty much an open area. Now that we have this threat, we're right back into it again.

SCIUTTO: And keep in mind, it's not just in Dallas where there's that concern.

RODERICK: Right.

SCIUTTO: I was speaking to people in the New York City Police Department after this, and they were instituting changes to protect their officers, things like officers going out in pairs as opposed to in singles, for instance, on beats or on postings, other postings.

I want to go to CNN's Ed Lavandera. He's been covering Dallas for a long time. He's been covering this story. He's on the phone right now.

Ed, what are you hearing?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): I want to be really delicate about what we are. Dallas police has been very adamant about asking us about broadcasting the movements or reporting in too serious detail about what exactly is going on.

But we can tell you that they are focused on a building just headquarters. We are standing I believe 200 yards away from that building. And they are in the process, from what we gather, of trying to assess the situation and figure out exactly what they're dealing with.

But as you've been reporting, this is stemming from a credible threat. A short while ago, we saw SWAT team members move into the area. At this point we don't want to go much beyond that. If there's someone in there posing some sort of threat, that's obviously something they'll be monitoring, so we've been asked not to share too many details about what we're seeing unfold.

It is calm here on the street. As you mentioned, the officers aren't pushing people back a great distance. There are a number of people who live in apartment high-rises just across the street from the police station, many people looking outside their window onto the situation, trying to figure out what's going on.

[19:15:02] But right now, things are quiet as the officers inside this area are moving in and trying to assess the situation.

SCIUTTO: Ed, you make a great point there, we don't want to share any information that could help, if there is a particular person who is putting police or anyone else under threat.

Just so the members of the public know what's best to do, particularly those who are in Dallas, maybe you can give us a sense. We have a picture now outside the police headquarters in Dallas. This is where that memorial is around those police cruisers.

You say it's a building just behind the headquarters. So people can visualize it. It's the other side of the building there as we look now at these pictures of the police cruisers that memorial behind it, is that what you're saying?

LAVANDERA: Right. From what you're seeing, it's directly behind the area that you're seeing. And obviously this has been over the last couple of days, an area which obviously has to be of great concern to the officers here, is that this is exactly the kind of soft target that has become a gathering point for people, as we've seen over the course of the last 24 hours, many people coming to this vigil and this memorial that's been set up outside police headquarters.

So you have a constant flow of traffic of people who usually aren't in this area coming to pay their respects, leaving notes, leaving flowers, candles, and that sort of thing. The street in the immediate areas around the police department have been blocked off, and they're trying to control some of the crowds. But everything seems to be well under control in terms of the crowd situation. There aren't a whole lot of people trying to make their way into this area.

SCIUTTO: OK, Ed. Listen, stay there, keep us the threat is real. And we want you to be safe.

I want to go to our Martin Savidge there.

Martin, if you can hear me, because we're now being told that police headquarters is officially on lockdown. Just from my perspective, I'm surprised you still have members of the public walking around there. What have you learned in the last few minutes about where the perceived threat is coming from and how police are reacting to it?

SAVIDGE: Well, you can tell, Jim, I think by the fact that they keep moving vehicles, that they're working on just sort of locking down the perimeter right now, making sure they've got the vehicles and the personnel in the right place. I think initially, you know, their concern is for police headquarters here, because just because you have a concern about a building in the back, you know, it's the old tactic that you could be fooled in the sense that you're somehow drawn attention-wise to the back, and, of course, then what we have unexpected attack could come from another direction.

So even though there may be a heavy focus on the back of the building, they want to make sure they cover the front of the building as well. And, you know, this major intersection here is where they're clearly trying to figure out what is the best place to position. But they haven't prevented people from going down the street. That could change as they get more personnel. But it doesn't appear at this moment that they feel any danger is imminent.

But they clearly do believe that this is a real problem they have on their hands. They haven't evacuated -- take a look, you can see the front of the police building there past the memorial. There are people there. Many of them are taking shelter because the rain is coming down.

But they haven't evacuated. They haven't said, get out, run, get away. None of that is taking place. This is a very calm -- actually the police are -- they will speak to you as far as telling you, they don't shout, they don't scream.

So, we're in this area of just, it's tense, it is a legislate and they're acting professionally, trying to assess the situation while having a minimal impact on traffic and life in general. The truth is everyone in this city is on edge, and reasonably so.

SCIUTTO: Understood. We know you'll keep us updated. You keep yourself safe.

I want to bring in CNN's Stephanie Elam. She's in Dallas as well. She's on the phone.

Stephanie, what are you seeing and hearing?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, I'm on the south side of the building, they were telling us they're making a buffer zone in front of the police station while they're working through the whole thing. I can see part of the front of the police station. They've set up a perimeter using not just police trucks but also ambulances as well. They've set up a perimeter, so they don't want people coming here.

I can see some of the officers are but I can't tell you where they are because I don't want to compromise their positions. I can see what's happening around the building. The police presence outside the building is very heavy at this point.

[19:20:03] SCIUTTO: Stephanie Elam, thanks very much, you stay safe as well.

I want to give you an update of what we know here at CNN about this new security alert in Dallas, what we know and what we don't know. What we know is that police are under heightened security. In fact they've put their headquarters there under lockdown. We know there's been an anonymous threat against the police department. Members of the media were moved.

You can see there in these pictures that they're setting up something of a perimeter, blocking off streets with those cruisers and assembling their forces, attention focused on a building just behind police headquarters. If you're looking at your screen now, it would be to the right, in the direction where people are moving. That's one focus, as they are trying to assess this threat. We do not know if there is indeed a threat. We don't know what kind of threat it is. But we know that the police are taking this anonymous threat to them very seriously at this point and trying to discover just how urgent it is.

We have our Martin Savidge outside the headquarters.

I also have with me Art Roderick with the U.S. Marshals Service. Art, as I watch this -- formerly with the Marshals Service.

As I watch this, I'm a little surprise and perhaps you can help me understand this, why, if there a threat just behind the police headquarters, people are still being allowed to walk around there and not take cover.

RODERICK: Well, it just seems to me that they've set up a very tight perimeter, which tells me that it's a specific threat. So they must know exactly or very close to what this threat is, and that they're able to pull in a very tight perimeter and allow people to come and go. So, to me, I don't think we're dealing with any type of a bomb threat or anything. Otherwise they would have cleared several blocks out.

So, it sounds to me like they have a specific threat, possibly regarding an individual. And if they've got a very tight perimeter, they're probably trying to clear that area to make sure that that threat is neutralized.

SCIUTTO: Listen, this is a challenge that certainly is essential to the Dallas police department. They've lost five of their own, seven injured. There are still people in the hospitals recovering from bullet wounds from this horrible attack, just a little more than a day ago.

It is also, though, Art, is it not, that police departments in many communities around the country are in right now? The NYPD, I know, for instance, has put in new security measures as a precaution. And you hear this in other major cities as well.

Is that a standard response when a police department comes under fire like we saw on Friday there in Dallas, for others to take steps like this?

RODERICK: It is, because of the circumstances. You had this peaceful protest, and then you had somebody using the peaceful protest to murder police officers. So, the FBI put out a bulletin shortly after this occurred and put all police departments on alert around the country, especially those that are having these types of protests in their cities.

So, this is standard procedure, and as we know, they've beefed up, they've doubled patrols, made sure two people are in every vehicle or two people are on foot. So this is standard procedure, when we have an incident like this, especially regarding the circumstances of the protests and occurring in several major cities around the country.

SCIUTTO: We're getting information in, and we're sharing it with you as we get it in. I just want to tell you some of the latest.

We know that Dallas has taken the step of shutting down public transit service to the area around the police station in light of this. You're seeing on our seen some of the other steps. They've cut off this main street in front of the Dallas police headquarters.

We know from our Martin Savidge who is posted in front of the police HQ that they have in effect set a lockdown, which means the people within that cordon when this started, they're going to stay in there. Anybody who was outside it at the time, they're not coming in.

And you could see on that street there in effect the limits of it. It seems to go a couple of blocks in one direction. And our understanding is that the building they are focusing on as the source of this threat is to the left, if you're looking at the screen, to the left us is the police headquarters, and behind it is a building that they are focusing their attention on.

We're not telling you exactly what that building is, because police have asked us to be careful with how much information we share so as not to help any potential perpetrator. But of course we want to share information for people whore in this area so they know what to do. And we can also convey to you how serious the situation is.

I see our Martin Savidge there patrolling, in effect, to see -- are you learning anything, are you seeing any more moves by the police, Martin?

SAVIDGE: So, I've seen the building that is in question here, there is the concern, I'm not going to give you any more description about it other than what Ed Lavandera said, that it's behind the police station.

[19:25:07] It's also near a DART station, which is the rapid transit system here, which is why traffic has been rerouted.

Naturally, you don't want to bring more people down there and you don't want to bring more vehicles and problems into the area. So they're focused behind the police station, but of course you want to make sure you have all the bases covered. And hence -- I'm hearing someone saying something over here.

But you can see the posture of the police here. I mean, look in the intersection here, their presence is definitely -- they're blocking the street. They're definitely concerned. But they're not standing there with the attitude that you would know well, Jim, of that they're ready with guns drawn.

So, they're clearly taking precautions. This all appears to be a precaution. But it's enough of a threat.

They know that by setting up a cordon like this outside of police headquarters, a lot of people are going to see it. And it comes right in front of this memorial and comes right at a time when the city is shaken. You're not going to take this kind of stance and transmit this again, "oh, no, here we go," unless you believe it is truly a legitimate threat. They clearly do. And they're not messing around.

SCIUTTO: Martin Savidge, thank you.

You make a good point there -- and, again, just a reminder to our viewers, there are things we know and we don't know. We know the police are taking an anonymous threat to the police headquarters very seriously. But we don't know that this threat is real.

And yet, they're taking every precaution. And as martin notes there, you look at the posture of police in the area. They're not crouched behind their cruisers. There are still members of the public present.

So, they're taking steps. It does not appear that there's an immediate threat, at least in this area, that we're looking at. But they're taking the overall threat to the police department very seriously.

We have Martin Savidge, he's in front of the police headquarters. That's basically this view that you have here. We have our Ed Lavandera on the phone a couple of blocks away on the other side.

Ed, are you hearing me and can you tell me what your seeing on the other side of the police headquarters?

We thought we had our Ed Lavandera there on the phone.

Let me see, Stephanie Elam as well has been on the phone as well, another CNN correspondent.

Stephanie, can you hear me?

ELAM (via telephone): I hear you, Jim.

SCIUTTO: What are you seeing on the other side of the police headquarters now in terms of police movements?

ELAM: Similar to what we just heard Martin say. They are out here, they are definitely still holding up this perimeter. It's not as if they are ducking behind anything or looking to anything specific. Just be very much alert, but it does not look like they (INAUDIBLE) that we're seeing here on the street.

I am on the same street, just further down, on the other side of where DART. So, we can see everything (INAUDIBLE) you talking about people who are walking in the streets, where I am now, I do see some police officers telling them to get back, stay back, move over, get out of the way. So, not tense, but definitely very much (INAUDIBLE)

SCIUTTO: We know the context. This is a police department, a city that lost five of its officers in a horrible shooting. They have seven more that are injured, some still recovering from gunshot wounds. They're going to take every threat very seriously.

We have Ed Lavandera on the phone right now.

Ed, I know you've been talking to the police. Have they been telling you anything more?

LAVANDERA (via telephone): No, everything's been kind of the same at this point. They have a number of officers that are engaged in crowd control and making sure that people stay a safe distance. But that is the extent of what we've seen.

You know, about 30 minutes ago there were SWAT officers that moved into the scene. There has been some confusion about whether or not a shot has been fired. But that doesn't appear to be the case.

Several people say they saw a potted plant fall out of a window across the street, while all of this is unfolding, and people mistook that for a gunshot. We've seen some reports on social media, but that doesn't appear to be the case at this point. But officers away from the scene mostly engaged in crowd control at this point.

But the situation around that building behind the police headquarters continues.

SCIUTTO: Ed, you're saying people there witnessed a potted plant falling out of a window? Or are you seeing that on social media?

[19:30:00] LAVANDERA: Well, there had been some reports floating around here initially that perhaps somebody had heard gunfire from this scene. From what I've been able to hear from one officer talking to some residents that live across the street and people trying to ask questions about that, some people had seen those reports kind of surfacing and floating around at some point, some other people had mentioned that a potted plant had fallen out of a window and made a popping sound, and perhaps because of that, that had been mistaken for a gunshot.

So, as far as we know, no shots have been fired. Our producers and reporters here on the scene have not heard anything like that yet.

SCIUTTO: One thing we know in situations like this, often the first eyewitness reports, people are amped up, they're not getting complete information, they can often be wrong. That's why we've been cautious from the beginning here to say we know that the police have received a threat, but we don't know if that threat is real. They don't know if that threat is real.

These are difficult judgments that police departments have to make, particularly in the environment that we're in right now.

I want to bring Art Roderick back.

Art, as you look at this in terms of the response, the steps that are being taken, this is very much standard operating procedure, is it t, when you've had a security incident like this in a city, and then you receive a threat?

RODERICK: Very much so. But you can also tell how on edge this city is with this pot plant issue. Sounded like a shot from a firearm.

So, I mean, hopefully we won't get a large gathering of people down there, and vehicles will stay away, so that the SWAT team can go in and do their job and clear the building. We're not tying up a lot of uniformed officers having to do crowd control.

SCIUTTO: Yes, no question, or having to explore in respond to real threats. I remember being in Paris after the Paris attacks and we were in a square there which like the Dallas police headquarters had become a memorial. People were coming to gather.

It was one thing, someone saw a police officer move, and before you knew it, hundreds of people were running away, they thought an attack was under way. I was in the midst of that crowd. You don't know in that environment. You think it may be real.

That's the nature of a city, of members of the public, and even the police department, after tragedies like this. They have to take -- they have to exercise maximum caution. And this is what we're watching happen here.

But we do know that the police had received an anonymous threat. So, even if eyewitnesses there heard something that wasn't something, we do know at least from the police that there was a threat that they received. We don't know how, by phone, by e-mail, we don't know, but it's something they're taking very seriously.

Art, I wonder if you could just give some advice here, because members of the public would want to know what to do in a situation like this, if they're close to the scene.

RODERICK: Yes, I -- you know, I would stay away from the balconies. I think we saw somebody out there standing on the balcony earlier. Get inside the house.

We don't know if this threat is dealing with another possible shooter. We just don't have that specific information. And hopefully, the people of Dallas will stay away from this area, both vehicular traffic and the people will stay away.

They've shut down the rapid transit in that area to keep more people from showing up. So, hopefully, they'll listen to this advice and stay away and let the officers do their job and neutralize this threat or determine what this threat exactly is.

SCIUTTO: I'm going to share something with our viewers now, just as a matter of explanation. We've been asked by the Dallas Police Department not to broadcast video from outside the police headquarters there. That's understandable.

Earlier, we had been asked not to share information about what particular building they were interested in or directing your attention towards as a possible source of the threat against the police headquarters. We're complying with that request, because they're asking us because they don't want, if there is a perpetrator there, to use what they see on our air to help them see what police are doing in response to this.

So, we're not going to be showing you any more video, any more images from outside the police department there. But we still do have our many reporters there, including our Martin Savidge, who is in front.

Martin, since we can't see it anymore, have you noticed any change in the posture of police there, are there any new measures that police are taking now in response to this threat?

SAVIDGE (via telephone): We are being told, of course, that we can't transmit anymore. That is out of precaution. It's a request that the Dallas police have made, at least visually. We can report to you by the telephone, which is what we're doing.

The posture hasn't changed, although I'm hesitantly saying that as I watch an officer go down the sidewalk here, shouting something at what appears to the TV cameras. He could be spreading that same request that's been made.

[19:35:03] CNN has -- simply will honor it. I'm just trying to follow what is going on. You know, this does ratchet things up. You don't see a change in the posture of the police, but, you know, if you're starting to shut down the telemetry, it means the situation is not backing down, notching down, instead it is looking like this is something that could become protracted, as more officers are going down the streets.

I'm just trying to ascertain they're headed beyond the entrance of the main police headquarters. And they're focused on something. We have had helicopters back up in the air. So they're continuing to sort of spiral the top. They don't look like television news helicopters, they look like something else.

Again, weapons are not out. We don't have people wearing full body armor. We don't have people wearing helmets. So you can ascertain from that that the threat doesn't seem to be immediate or in a way that we are in some kind of direct line of fire, if there were any fire, there is none.

But this is a situation that continues to evolve. And they seem to be pushing people now across the street. I mean, the area closer to the building in question, and we were allowed to be on the sidewalk in front of that building. Now we're being told, get across the street. And, of course, that's what we're doing.

SCIUTTO: We're also able to report now that Dallas police have activated their SWAT unit after this threat. We don't know that the SWAT unit is in action right now. This could be precautionary step to have it at hand in case they need to act. But that's the latest that we have there.

It's interesting, this request to the media not to broadcast video from the scene, it's not unusual, it's not unprecedented. I remember a couple of weeks ago we were covering that attack, if you'll remember, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, thousands of miles away, but while that situation was under way, they asked local TV not to broadcast, because the attackers in that attack were still inside. They were concerned that they would be able to see how police were reacting and respond to that. Now let's bring in CNN's senior investigative correspondent Drew

Griffin on the telephone. He's among our big team of CNN correspondents there who have been covering these horrible events in Dallas.

Drew, I understand you're few blocks away from where this is happening.

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): We're part of the extensive perimeter, we're five blocks away. Police have really cordoned off the entire area, way beyond the police headquarters. They're not letting anybody in. They're actually trying to escort some people out.

I think this has to deal with the potential of a high power rifle that may be involved here. Just to report, the actual perimeter around us, I know some of our units are inside that perimeter, but to drive in now, it's almost impossible. It is at least five blocks. And from what we can see, maybe even expanding beyond that, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, they are clearly setting a pretty broad cordon there. If we're talking five blocks away, five blocks in each direction, starting to get close to mile area square, where they are in effect putting the area on lockdown after receiving this threat.

Again, if you're just joining us now, police on heightened security. Police tell CNN they received an anonymous threat.

The media's been moved away. The media has been asked to stop broadcasting live pictures from outside the police headquarters there as a precaution. If there is a perpetrator, they don't want that perpetrator to see what we broadcast which might show that person, if indeed there is a potential attacker there, how the police is responding, how they're mounting their units and getting ready.

What steps have they taken so far in addition to the security cordon? They've shut off public transit to stations in that area. They've asked media like us not to broadcast images. They have activated a SWAT unit to be ready to respond to any potential attack. We're told by our Ed Lavandera, who has been speaking to police, that there's one building in particular behind police headquarters where they've been focusing their attention. We've been asked not to identify what that building is, because again, police don't want potential perpetrators, if there are those, how much they know but where this is happening.

We've got a whole team of reporters down there.

Ed Lavandera, you're on the phone. Can you hear me?

LAVANDERA (via telephone): I can hear you.

SCIUTTO: Are police sharing any more I don't want to say information about how they're responding, but just any more warnings? Are they telling you anything more about what they're concerned about?

[19:40:02] LAVANDERA: No. Simply that we were standing on the same side, just on the edge of that Dallas police building headquarters. And just a few moments ago, a couple of officers kind of raced over and pushed us back across the street. You know, we're now another 50 feet or so farther away from the building that is getting all of the attention here at this point.

But there is a group of officers standing where we were standing that appear very calm at this point. There's still clearly other activity going on. So, this is the outer layer of police movement. And beyond that, we do see some other things. We're going to hold off on reporting those details as the situation continues to unfold.

But the main street in front of the building has been shut down to car traffic. So, everything is very much controlled on the movements all throughout this area.

SCIUTTO: Ed, thank you.

Listen, to our viewers, we don't want to alarm anybody. We just want to share what we know here. I want to be clear on what we know and what we don't. We know the police have received a threat that they're taking very seriously, because they tell us that, and because we see the measures they are taking around police headquarters there, setting up a security cordon, perhaps as large as a mile wide, keeping people away, telling us not to broadcast live pictures for a time because we don't want to let any potential perpetrators know how they're reacting to this.

That's what we know. They've activated a SWAT team. They've shut down public transport stops in the area. That's what we know.

We don't know if any shots have been fired. We don't know of any attack under way. We do know as well this is a city very much on alert, because of the horrible event that unfolded just a little more than 24 hours ago.

Is this an abundance of caution? We don't know yet.

Let's go to our Drew Griffin. He's about five blocks from police headquarters just outside the cordon. That's why we can get live pictures of him there.

Drew, tell us what you're seeing and hearing now.

GRIFFIN: Yes, you can see the people that are now coming out. They're mostly reporters, Jim, who have been inside all day covering like we have been all day, the memorial and whatnot when this activity broke out. You can see it's not a panic, you know, there's not a panic going on, but this is a very extensive perimeter.

What you're seeing is about five blocks away. We cannot see in any way the police station or the building that the police are looking into as a potential area of concern. But what we do see are the people that are being escorted out, the cars that being brought out of that perimeter area, and also the police blockade that is making sure nobody goes in there. It's very controlled. There's no panic whatsoever. But again, out of

an abundance of caution or perhaps because they want to be extremely careful with what they know and they haven't shared with us yet, this perimeter is very large, Jim, and very cautious indeed.

SCIUTTO: Well, it's telling to see the posture of police where we've seen, it's not conclusive, but it's telling that you don't see them hiding behind their cruisers, they're not telling people to hit the deck, things you would do if there was an active shooter under way.

That said, they are taking an enormous number of precautions, some of which you're seeing there, Drew, right, one in tells me of the cordon, but the manpower. Are you seeing a lot of man and woman power, I should say, from the police reaction?

GRIFFIN: You know, we do see that now. Now, Dallas is on a heightened state of alert anyway, right, Jim. But it is a Saturday, it is downtown. If you know downtown Dallas, it gets kind of empty on a weekend especially. There aren't a lot of people mulling about.

There are a lot of police here today. And there's a lot of barriers being set up. I can look behind me and I can see three, four police cars right here. We've seen several police units and unmarked cars going back and forth.

What seems to be in a hurry -- I don't know if they're just positioning to get into where they need to be to man this perimeter that obviously has been set up and is expanding.

But, you know, there's no urgency. Obviously, the officers are standing in the middle of the street. They are not wearing any vests. Again, we are in a perimeter situation where anybody civilian-wise inside is being escorted out.

SCIUTTO: Do you know, Drew, if that includes people who live in buildings, properties inside that cordon? Are they taking people out of their homes?

GRIFFIN: I have not seen any evidence of that. I have seen cars not being able to drive in there. I have seen some people walking with what looks like shopping bags as if they went to a grocery store that are coming out. I do not see any evidence of actual buildings or residents being evacuated.

SCIUTTO: Drew Griffin, stay there. I know you're going to keep following this, keep your head down if necessary. We want to keep everyone safe.

[19:45:01] I want to go now to our Stephanie Elam. She's also very close to the perimeter there.

And I understand, Stephanie, they're telling you to point your cameras in the opposite direction now?

ELAM: Yes. We just want to make sure that we are honoring what Dallas police have asked us to do. So, right now, we are facing away from headquarters so that we don't compromise anything that they're doing.

I am still close enough that I can see what's going on. And I can tell you that I've seen a few more officers come up as they section off this area and make it safe. I've seen more people leaving from in front of headquarters, crossing the street. I've seen more officers taking these people across the street.

I presume that a lot of those people are media. They've been moving behind the two police cars that have become the memorial in front of Dallas police headquarters. That's where I'm seeing people being removed by police and pushing this perimeter further back.

I do see officers in multiple places on the street around the area, to answer one of your questions too, Jim, this is not a residential area at all. This is pretty industrial around here. So I don't think you have too much of a concern for people and homes. There are some businesses here, however. And so that is a concern. But not necessarily homes that are in this side of the area, of the police station, Jim.

SCIUTTO: Stephanie Elam, thanks very much.

Martin Savidge also on the phone now in front of Dallas police headquarters. We're not showing any images from there at police request.

Martin, what are you hearing?

SAVIDGE (via telephone): Well, you know, I was just talking to people, there are still people who are coming to the memorial here. In fact, there are a couple of young ladies who have come to bring cookies for the officers. Others are still bringing flowers. So -- and they can see this heavy police presence. Though literally these are people that are undeterred as a result of whatever the security situation may be, wanting to pay tribute, wanting to mourn is still top priority.

And though the police are keeping people out, they are not preventing -- I'm not sure where these people are coming from, but I'm watching now, there's a woman laying a bouquet of yellow daisies. Another man is on his knees, appears to be praying in front of this memorial.

So, you have this very odd scene, of course, where you have a heavy police presence, you have clearly an unusual police presence, and at the same time, people, they're here with their children, they're walking and continuing to move around this memorial. They feel it is important to be here.

I don't want to say that this is abnormal. I just want to say, in the city they realize, you know what, they're probably going to go through scares like this. These are people in Dallas saying, we're going to carry on, especially when it comes to mourning our officers.

So, it's one of those unique vignettes that you see.

SCIUTTO: We've been very careful to share only the information that the police department has asked us -- has asked us not to share. The Dallas Police Department has been tweeting, in fact, a series of things just in the last few minutes. I want to share those, if I can, with our viewers.

The first one here, "Officers searching the police parking garage for suspicious person." This gets at the building just behind police headquarters that we've been told earlier is where they are focusing their attention.

That tweet followed very briefly after by this one: "Officers conducting a systematic search of that parking lot."

So, that helps explain a few things that we've been seeing in this last hour or so. So now we know the building they're looking at, they're focusing their attention on the parking lot. Which might help explain why elsewhere, outside the parking lot, they're not hunkering down behind vehicles or telling people to hit the deck. They seem to have one very finite area, this parking lot, where they're focused their attention.

I also have this from the Dallas Police Department, again, by Twitter. This is how information is shared these days. It says, "There have been media reports of shots fired." Keep in mind CNN has not reported that. "The Dallas police say there has been no shots fired. SWAT set off a device to enter a locked fence."

So that may have been a noise that people heard. They might have used a small explosive to break through a fence and that might have sounded like shots fired to some. But the police are saying no shots fired in this incident, one, that they're focusing their attention on a police parking garage behind police headquarters, and they're now conducting a systematic search of that parking lot.

Ed Lavandera, if you're still on the phone, I know you've been talking to police. Have they been sharing any more information about how that search is going?

[19:50:00] LAVANDERA (via telephone): There hasn't been any official update, although I think one of my colleagues here watching, give me just one second via the Twitter feed for the Dallas Police Department. And we talked about over the last couple of days about how proficient the Dalla Police Department is on social media, and given all the attention that this has given.

The Dallas Police Department just tweeting about a minute go to say that officers are planning to breach a blocked door in the garage with a shotgun. So, that is straight from the Dallas Police Department Twitter feed. So, if there's a sound that's heard here in the coming moments, we can presume that's what that's going to be the officers are preparing to do at this point.

SCIUTTO: And, Ed, I see the Dallas police have tweeted they did this already. They may be planning to do it again to breakthrough some locked fence in that parking garage. So, that may explain when people said they thought they heard something that sounded like shots. The police saying, no, this is the police. They were breaking through a barrier.

Ed Lavandera is saying there that may happen again. If you're in Dallas, you hear something like that, if you're close to the police headquarters, this may be the explanation.

We're getting a clearer picture of what's happened here now. The police focusing on that parking garage. They're searching it. In their search, they've had to breakthrough barriers that they couldn't get through themselves. They had to use something loud, perhaps a small explosive, or a shotgun as Ed Lavandera was just reporting there to breakthrough. That explains the sound.

It also helps explain the security cordon, but also the fact that they have not chased every living person out of that area or they're not hiding behind the police cruisers. They seem to know where this possible threat is emanating from. But to this point, we don't have any hard information it's an actual threat. Police taking it seriously but we don't have any hard indication that it is an actual threat.

Art Roderick, if you're still with us here, all these things you're seeing now, again, standard operating procedure considering the security situation in Dallas, considering what happened 36 hours ago, considering how police operate.

RODERICK: Yes, exactly. As you recall the shooter the other night also used a garage area. So, very sensitive to this type of area. It is standard operating procedure.

I'm sure they extended the perimeter slowly but surely. They extended it out from any line of sight from that garage which is I recall behind the headquarters. So, the people in front of headquarters were probably out of danger but then they extended that area five or six blocks back so they were outside the line of sight in case it was any shooter in that garage.

Now, explosive breaches are used common by swat teams. It can be done via shotgun or explosive device attached to around the lock on the door and it will take it down, same thing with a chain link fence. That's probably what we heard earlier.

SCIUTTO: Understood.

I want to go back to Drew Griffin. He's on the ground there just at the limits of the security cordon that the Dallas police have put around the police headquarters there.

Drew, are you seeing anything new from where you are?

GRIFFIN: It seems like they got all those people out. (INAUDIBLE)

Not much has changed here. Just the blockade continues. The situation is all of those people, reporters were inside the perimeter. They were moved out. We're looking at them now and the two different levels of police that we can see from our vantage point. Again, we're about five blocks away. We cannot see the building in

question. We're just in a holding pattern here. It looks like these officers are too waiting for that SWAT team or whatever team is strategically going through the building to either find a suspect or to clear the building and declare this over with -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Drew Griffin.

And again, if you're joining us now, security situation under way around the Dallas police headquarters, focus of attention on a police parking lot behind the police headquarters. Police are conducting a systematic search there.

But we have not heard -- no shots fired. Police making that clear. No clarity but there is an actual threat. There's a perceived threat and one they are taking seriously and understandably in light of what the police force and what the city of Dallas went through just on Friday in those early morning hours.

So, we're watching this very closely. We got team of reporters around there very closely. We're going to keep updating as the information comes in.

Art, I might bring you back.

You know, the sad fact is in some ways this is where our country, not just the city of Dallas is right now, but where our country is right now because we've seen shootings of different kinds in so many cities.

[19:55:10] Lately, we've seen protests that have followed. Police feel under threat. And they're going to take threats very seriously.

RODERICK: They absolutely have to. This is almost like the after- tremors of an earthquake. I mean, they've got to look at this stuff. Take it seriously.

We've had the multiple shootings around the country of law enforcement officers being ambushed. So, when you put all that together, including the FBI alert that came out. You put that all together, everything's got to be taken seriously.

As I recall, that garage is a fairly large area, so it's got to take a while for this SWAT team to go through every single building or every single vehicle, every single door that's locked to make sure that there's nobody in that particular building.

SCIUTTO: I want to go back to our Stephanie Elam. She's part of our team in and around the Dallas headquarters area. And again, this is going to be on the phone now. We've been asked not to broadcast live video from around Dallas police headquarters. We're complying with that request from the Dallas police department. It seems a very reasonable one.

If there is a threat, they don't want any person or person to watch our live feed and be able to figure out what the police are doing in response. Stephanie, tell us without revealing any of those reactions, tell us

what police are telling you, what they're sharing now about the state of the threat.

ELAM: Right. It's worth pointing out that the reason we're not doing this is to protect the police as they are out here doing this investigation. It's not because we -- the main reason is we want to make sure they are safe and we don't compromise the locations. That's why we're doing this.

Out here where, we are they have pushed out of the road. It's all blocked off where we are. They push the media back to the side now. We can still see up the street. I can tell you that there are still police officers out here. There's still an ambulance out here blocking the road. They want to make sure this area is remained cordoned off.

We had a storm roll through not too long ago. So, it's humid. It's warm. You can definitely see that the lighting has changed here as far as what they can see. So, I think this is all part of their security plan to make sure that everyone is out of way and no one gets in the way of their investigation as they are conducting this based on what Dallas PD is tweeting at this point --Jim.

SCIUTTO: Understood. Stephanie, the PD has put out warning via their Twitter feed that they were going to breach some sort of gate, possibly with a shotgun inside that parking lot. Have you heard that from where you are?

ELAM: No, we haven't heard anything yet. Obviously, it's interesting that Dallas pd organized on this one and putting that tweet out ahead of them doing that so when people heard it, they would not be alarmed. We have not heard anything yet.

On this side where I am, realize there's multiple sides to the police station but on the side where I am, there are not residents. There are a few businesses here. There's a large parking lot as well that you can see here too. So, this part a little more open than perhaps other sides of the building are.

SCIUTTO: It's a good point to make. It's not like there is a residential area where you have dozens of families living there within the threat that you would have to evacuate that relief to some degree. You don't have a lot of members in the public under threat at this point. Police taking every precaution. We want to take every precaution to protect the police but also members of the public there.

Martin Savidge, if you're still on the line there from in front of the police headquarters, can you hear me?

SAVIDGE: I can. I'm still with you.

SCIUTTO: Now, are they still letting members of the public? It amazed me they were letting members of the public come to that memorial in the front there in light of the proximity to this parking garage where they are focusing their attention. SAVIDGE: It's nowhere near the numbers we saw earlier in the day.

But there's still people coming. I think they are taking the securest routes to get in -- but some of them have remained here. People have been staying here for long periods of time. It's that kind of a place. People come to pray and people come to contemplate.

What they're doing right now is there's many candles that are part of this memorial. They are literally going and lighting every single one of them.

So, this is kind of statement on the part of the people as well. Regardless of the situation that they be playing on around them, they are going to continue to mourn. They're not going to be pushed away or made scared by what's happening.

So, it's just remarkable to see that. But again, they're here with small children. They're obviously not frightened. No one is hiding. No one is taking cover. They're going about praying. They're going about paying their respects at the same time less than 25 yards away, here are the police vehicles blocking the roadways.