Event Security

The Biggest Security Threats To Sports Events & Steps To Thwart Them

By Selena Chavis

For event planners attempting to identify every possible scenario that could pose a threat to maintaining a safe and secure event, the process can seem daunting. In fact, the Academy for Venue Safety and Security of the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM) has compiled a list of 116 different scenarios that venues need to consider. Even still, Harold Hansen, director of life safety and security with the organization, stressed that “our list is not complete.”

In a post-9/11 world, Hansen said the threats haven’t necessarily changed, but the awareness of the potential impact of threats has placed security at the forefront. “We’ve woken up to the potential that bad things can happen…and will somewhere. The threat itself is not controllable, but you can control the vulnerability. That’s the one piece of the equation a facilities manager can take action against.”

And it comes down to a basic equation: Risk=Threat x Vulnerability x Consequence.

“It’s the logical way to look at it,” Hansen said, noting that the variable becomes how much vulnerability an organization will accept. “Some accept the logic and have taken a proactive stance,” he said. “On the other hand, there are still thousands of building (managers) out there that haven’t. They believe it won’t happen to them.”

Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne, Ind., employs approximately 500 people, including General Manager Randy Brown. The staff at the coliseum is accustomed to planning security for sports teams on a regular basis, as the coliseum hosts the International Hockey League’s Fort Wayne Komets, the National Basketball Association Development League’s Fort Wayne Mad Ants, a Continental Indoor Football League, and the Indiana University/Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW) Mastodons Division I men’s basketball.

Brown said his organization sees no other option than to be proactive. “We are all doing so much more to monitor,” he said, noting expansions in technological infrastructure and staffing. “The bottom line is that every event is different. The key point is to do your homework ahead of time.”

Security issues can come in many forms, and each event will come with its own set of challenges, warns Lou Marciano, director of Spectator Sports Security Management (SSSM) with the University of Southern Mississippi. In an effort to help planners focus on security planning and resources for events, SSSM has developed the Sports Event Security Aware (SESA) model, which encompasses four key processes of continuous improvement—assessment, training, practice and audit.

Basic Steps To Event Security
Harold Hansen, director of life safety and security with the Academy for Venue Safety and Security with the International Association of Assembly Managers (IAAM), offers the following tips to lay the foundation to a solid security plan.

1. Know who and what is coming in the front and back doors. Consider needs for badges and monitoring. Often, the back door will include more than people—it can open the opportunity for tainted shipments or products to enter a venue.

2. Employ effective crowd-management strategies. “How many times do I see an usher, police officer, volunteer, etc., watching the basketball game instead of the crowd?” he asked, pointing out that crowd anagement entails more than just placing people throughout a building. “Crowd control is reactive, whereas crowd management is meant to be proactive.”

3. Institute solid emergency response procedures to as many potential situations as possible. “What if someone hacks into the scoreboard and starts sending messages that incite the crowd?”

4. Establish appropriate physical barriers and buffer zones.

5. Train. “If people don’t know what to do, what good are the plans?”

As part of the first phase of planning security for any event, Marciano advises event planners to conduct a comprehensive pre-event threat and risk assessment that identifies potential threats such as common crimes, fires, vandalism, natural disasters, protesters, and gangs; to gauge the potential damages from such threats; to determine the likelihood of these threats occurring; and to develop cost estimates and actions to prevent the threats. “Then, you will be able to prioritize resources based on the assessment,” he said.

Marciano said one of the pitfalls of developing an event security strategy is a lack of resources. “Make sure there is sufficient funding for priorities of the security management plan.”

The second phase is training, and training of staff and “practice” is crucial, Brown said. “Everything starts with communication to staff. We drill it,” he said, adding that all 500 employees are brought in periodically to run drills. “It’s a matter of having procedures…having plans in place.”

Marciano emphasizes that this is also the time to pull together and include a community task force of key functions where evacuation plans are put into place and practice drills are run alongside regular staff training. “Bring community police, emergency management, public information, private security and all necessary people that a local emergency management team would tell you to bring in,” he said.

Other considerations might include the establishment of a solid inter-agency communication process; appropriate access control measures; a solid transportation and traffic plan; adequate administrative and logistics support; and plans to detect threats from explosives and from radiological, chemical and biological agents. It’s also important that event planners develop an adequate public information and media relations plan as well, Marciano said.

The third phase of event security then becomes management during the event itself. Marciano suggests that management should begin prior to the arrival of spectators, officials, crowds, media and others at the event site.

“The critical aspects of this phase include comprehensive communications, monitoring and reporting,” he said, noting that it is also important to ensure that key operational areas—such as the command center, credentialing, and access control posts—are running properly.

According to Brown, typically there are three tiers of security for events at the War Memorial Coliseum, including staff for guest services, peer security and police officers. While those levels are given the primary responsibility for security, he points to a philosophy inherent in the organization that suggests “everyone has a responsibility in security.”

As part of post-event activities, or the last SESA security phase, Marciano suggests that planners conduct a comprehensive security review of successes and areas needing improvement.