The Fascinating World of Event Security: Ensuring Fan Safety During An Age of Uncertainty
James A. DeMeo, M.S.
Distinguished Adjunct Faculty @ Tulane University SoPA | Adjunct Faculty @ Gannon University, Dahlkemper School of Business | Sports Security Expert | USESC Peer Mentor | Retired LEO
The tragedy coming out of the Las Vegas-Mandalay Bay mass shootings, a black swan event has event security leaders rethinking the playbook for properly safeguarding today’s confined spaces. The concept of an aerial assault prior to the event was unfathomable. Security leaders entrusted with duty of care responsibilities have to literally go back to the drawing board on how best to prevent a copycat incident from occurring. The loss of lives was without question catastrophic. The question now begs: Where do we go from here?
Security leaders can make a monumental impact in the vertical by sharing best practices and lessons learned with their industry peers. Confined space protection refers to densely populated areas where people, in the case of Las Vegas, music fans congregated to watch a particular performance. The Country music singer Jason Aldean, his first reaction to the shooting was that perhaps there were some speaker, sound system issues. His security team instructed him to leave the stage as the tragedy unfolded. Members of Aldean's crew hid underneath the stage in an effort to shelter in place from the fuselage of bullets coming from the shooter who was situated on the 32 floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino.
When we look back to Manchester Arena and the Paris Soccer stadium bombing, we see the importance of event staff maintaining situational awareness, and having the ability to lead patrons to safety during times of crises. Proactive risk mitigation event staff training is a key component in best confronting these types of challenges. The integration of technology, physical security screening measures, biometrics, LPR-licence plate readers, effective communications between first responders and event staff, crowd control, crowd dynamics, understanding patron demographics, along with responsible social media monitoring can play a monumental role in helping to prevent/reduce the loss of life concerning the proper safeguarding of future events.
Listed below you will find the numerous challenges facing today’s event security leaders:
active shooter/active assailant
workplace violence
errant drones
IED/bomb scares
inclement/severe weather conditions
biological/chemical attacks
terrorism, lone wolf-unpredictable in nature
domestic/international terrorist, protests
riots, civil unrest at or near open-ended stadiums
intoxicated or belligerent fans, crowd control
crowd dynamics/crowd crush
choke points, bottlenecks during ingress and egress screening checkpoints
cyber/IT threats
insider threats/bad actors
Below you will find 5 takeaways for event security leaders to consider moving forward:
- Conduct frequent threat and vulnerability assessments and site visits
- Invest in technology platforms to further safeguard the space
- Review security protocols and procedures on a consistent basis
- Foster public/private partnerships, JTTF: Joint Terrorism Task Force, and Fusion centers, U.S. Marshals.
- Offer verbal de-escalation skills training for your staff. Treating people with dignity and respect is key.
In summary, we are seeing post-Las Vegas the inherent liabilities contract security, hotel/hospitality/tourism and concert promoters are now facing. The importance of brand protection, business continuity and resiliency cannot be underscored in these endeavors. The constant ebb and flow of safeguarding a multi-billion juggernaut, today's sports and entertainment industry is a constant work in progress. Safeguarding these confined spaces is not a fear-based model but one based upon employee empowerment. Proactive training, education and career development resources for those protecting the space will be the difference-maker in keeping fans safe and secure. Thank you.
The writer of this article, James A. DeMeo, M.S. brings extensive security, law enforcement & consulting experience to both the public/private sectors. Mr. DeMeo was recognized by Security Magazine as one of The Most Influential People in Security 2017. Mr. DeMeo is also the author of the bestselling book on family safety & preparedness entitled, What’s Your Plan? A Step-By-Step Guide To Keep Your Family Safe During Emergency Situations. Mr. DeMeo is a distance learning adjunct instructor for the highly regarded Tulane University School of Professional Advancement-SOPA, where he teaches graduate students about event security and risk management.
#innovation #management #eventsecurity #socialmedia #technology
Distinguished Adjunct Faculty @ Tulane University SoPA | Adjunct Faculty @ Gannon University, Dahlkemper School of Business | Sports Security Expert | USESC Peer Mentor | Retired LEO
2 年Crowdguard US
Distinguished Adjunct Faculty @ Tulane University SoPA | Adjunct Faculty @ Gannon University, Dahlkemper School of Business | Sports Security Expert | USESC Peer Mentor | Retired LEO
5 年Looking for more security leaders to share their vast industry knowledge and build on our points of interest. Thanks. James?
Distinguished Adjunct Faculty @ Tulane University SoPA | Adjunct Faculty @ Gannon University, Dahlkemper School of Business | Sports Security Expert | USESC Peer Mentor | Retired LEO
5 年Jonathan Poche-thanks for sharing your thoughts and concerns. The Las Vegas Shooting was a real game-changer in the Sports Security landscape. You do the very best with the resources available to you. What you do in practice is how you will react when confronted with a life-threatening situation. The smartest people on the planet to this day could not determine the motive for the shooter. We look at the space from multiple angles applying an enterprise risk security management/robust security posture to keep fans, brand & assets protected within the space.?
Distinguished Adjunct Faculty @ Tulane University SoPA | Adjunct Faculty @ Gannon University, Dahlkemper School of Business | Sports Security Expert | USESC Peer Mentor | Retired LEO
5 年The Las Vegas Shooting Massacre was a black swan tragedy in every sense of the word. The smartest people on the planet could not determine a motive, the mindset of the shooter. Lessons learned, AAR, the sharing of best practices are the prevailing themes moving forward. An aerial assault was unfathomable but as history tells us it did indeed occur. We do our best with implementing effective risk mitigation strategies for safeguarding confined spaces. Applying an enterprise risk security management, a robust, all-hazards approach is the best way to go moving forward. Most assuredly, the threats, challenges & vulnerabilities in both the physical and cyber realms will continue for the foreseeable future.?
Security Professional at Live Nation Entertainment
5 年Do we still know exactly how to prevent what happened in Las Vegas? I don’t know that we have. I think we are faced with the realization that we can’t prevent everything. This actually scares me because I work in these environments