WASHINGTON (CBSDC) - The attacks on September 11 shocked us to our cores, something the Metropolitan Police Department remembered when making the decision to beef up security measures around the city.

Police Chief Cathy Lanier tells WNEW the police department has been through a lot of different training in the eleven years since the attacks, but adds, not all those changes will be noticeable on Sept. 11, or any other day for that matter.

“Some of it is visible and some of it is not,” says Lanier. “And that’s really the way it should be. we certainly don’t want it to be predictable.”

Security measures have been ramped up throughout the District of Columbia specifically for Sept. 11. But training precautions in the event of future terrorist attacks in the city, like the cowardly attack on the Pentagon eleven years ago, aren’t just carried out for the purpose of flawless response. Lanier says the department is focused on prevention too.

“The threat changes and whatever the threat is is what we need to train for and that’s not just in response, but in detection and deterrence.”

The attacks on Sept. 11 changed the way America views its safety forever. Police departments across the country will exercise tightened security on this day, and the residents of D.C. can rest easy knowing their police are hard at work year round focused on prevention.