SALISBURY, NC (WBTV) -
Extra police security will be working Friday through the weekend at several local theaters in the area, including the Tinseltown Cinemark location in Salisbury.
"The manager did call me this morning and we did increase security there this weekend, coming in earlier on Friday and Saturday and on Sunday as well," Captain Melonie Thompson of the Salisbury Police Department told WBTV on Friday afternoon. "We have always had security there every weekend for the last ten years but we did up the security this weekend to make the patrons feel more safe."
Thompson schedules the officers who work at the theater, and often handles the job herself. She says a tragedy like the one in Colorado always makes police ask if such a thing could happen in their communities. That usually leads to an assessment of current security practices.
"It's a sad day and age we're living in when people can just open fire in a theater, people just innocently going to the movies," Salisbury resident George Trueblood told WBTV. Trueblood said he may go to see the movie, but it won't be in the next day or two.
"My son was wanting to see it," Jennifer Ward said. She also added that the Colorado situation may change those plans. "Yeah, I did think about that, our safety when we go to the movie theater."
In Kannapolis it's a little different at the historic Gem Theater. Unlike big movieplex theaters, there is only one door, and owner Steve Morris says his staff is diligent to watch out for anything out of the ordinary.
"We have personal contact with everybody that comes in," Morris told WBTV. "We watch very carefully once they enter the theater."
Copyright 2012 WBTV. All rights reserved.
