Author: 

Mark Camillo

FM Issue: 

March/April 2018

Securing public assembly venues is not a new concept. Tailoring security to events within venues is becoming the norm in operational security planning, resting upon baseline security measures in place. We are moving in the right direction in order to stay ahead of the ever-changing threat. Credit in many cases goes to sports leagues and professional organizations that recommend or even require best practices security procedures, and organizations such as IAVM who offer training programs such as the Academy for Venue Safety & Security, and provide basic and advanced coursework tailored for venue management professionals. Public sector organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, and the respective state offices of homeland security and emergency preparedness, have become resource centers for critical information to enhance venue resilience. They have also established an array of either no-cost or low-cost training available either online or in classroom settings.

The mantra “Prepare, Prevent, Respond & Recover,” often associated with the Department of Homeland Security, opened the aperture of venue security to include preparedness and preventative measures in the overall plan. Prior to the attacks on 09/11, it was unlikely to see venue entrances on event day configured with screening operations. Any screening conducted was likely for prohibited items in the form of a “pat down” or bag check. Profit and loss drove the security model at the gates more than potential malicious acts committed once inside. The exception was events secured by agencies such as the U.S. Secret Service for dignitaries and events designated as a National Special Security Events, which came into existence in 1998.

Law enforcement assigned to venues is not new. Agencies have always been keen to potential illicit drug activity at certain types of events and have a long history of responding to disorderly fans often fueled by intoxication. Public safety in general to include fire and emergency medical services have a long history of dedicating personnel and resources to event sites.

Today, however, we cannot predict the manner in which we will be attacked, or by whom. The days of exclusively tracking foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) in order to predict likely commercial facility targets is behind us. Although FTOs continue to be a persistent threat, social media has now spawned a new threat actor known as a Homegrown Violent Extremist, or a HVE. These are individuals who have elected to commit a malicious act after being inspired from sources via the Internet. They also have access to media reports on terrorist acts previously committed by others, regardless of their proclaimed cause.

This copycat mentality is, and will continue to be, a concern for those of us who have the responsibility to create and maintain a safe and secure environment at venues. Additionally, the lone wolf that we fear will target our venues may be driven to committing destructive acts due to mental illness. These attacks, as we have sadly witnessed in recent history, have been committed by individuals who planned and executed their deadly attacks with no apparent association or allegiance to hate or extremist groups.

Event types or event themes also stimulate negative interest. For the venue manager, the schedule of events is often decided by someone else. With more and more venues becoming multi-use in their design, threat considerations can no longer be limited to one particular event or attraction. Many of our venues today host a wide variety of events in one week. Each one of these events, whether they be sporting, entertainment, celebratory, or faith-based, may bring along with it a different host of threats or at minimum negative interest.

Sadly, in recent years we have witnessed a spike in activity outside our venues that suggest those with negative intent are choosing to commit acts of disruption and even destruction without the objective of gaining access into the venue. It is imperative that venue management teams expand their area of concern to include areas outside the classic hardened perimeter.

Exterior Concerns

• Ingress crowd flow: The density of the crowd assembling to enter a security checkpoint can be an inviting target for attack. A threat actor can weave his way into the crowd and achieve objectives using items such as small firearms, Improvised Explosive Devices (IED), or even edged weapons.

Countermeasure Considerations

• Add surveillance detection officers on the exterior in front of the entrances on event day to look for inappropriate or pre-attack behavior. Specialized training is the key to its effectiveness. DHS offers no-cost surveillance training courses. Your event security provider may offer this capability, but check before adding this coverage.
• Coordinate with your local law enforcement agency to determine if they have officers assigned to detect hostile surveillance or pre-attack behavior.
• Work with both your local law enforcement agency and recommended private security companies to have specially trained K-9 teams that can detect vapors emitted by individuals carrying or wearing explosive devices.

• Egress crowd flow: Patrons exiting after an event naturally move in mass, thereby creating another crowd density situation. A threat actor only has to “swim upstream” far enough to find the crowd condi-tions attractive enough to carry out a malicious act, with no intention of entering the building.

Countermeasure Considerations

• Extend your event security coverage to re-deploy personnel outside the venue to ensure any barriers set up to manage the egress are not compromised.
• Coordinate with law enforcement to ensure uniformed officers are positioned at and near the exit points to detect and/or respond to suspicious behavior exhibited by persons who are observing exiting patrons.
• Extend the assignments of your K-9 vapor detecting teams to be patrolling the periphery of the venue for potential threat actors carrying or wearing explosive devices.
• Ensure that the exterior perimeter plan developed by you and law enforcement extends from your venue to adjacent mass transit stations such as trains or subways.

• Ramming Vehicles: With explosives set-back standards often requiring no vehicular traffic closer than 100 feet, the assumption is that no vehicle can gain entrance within the car-free zone. This is an effective measure at many venues, but not all. Does your venue present an opportunity for a vehicle to drive through a crowd of patrons moving in mass either entering or exiting the venue? As we have sadly seen at recent events in the U.S. and internationally, the determined attacker may resort to driving at a high rate of speed into a crowd, capitalizing on their vulnerability when outside the venue.

Countermeasure Considerations

• Survey the walkways connecting to your venue to determine if vertical posts known as bollards are positioned in a pattern that prevents a passenger vehicle from accessing the sidewalks from a street. Fixed posts are known as traffic bollards, but temporary barriers can also be purchased or leased to fill any gaps. Collapsible or retractable bollards are a good choice for back of the house locations such as loading docks.
• Coordinate with law enforcement counterparts to determine where large vehicles such as trucks or buses may be parked to temporarily block vehicle access on event day.

• Protests/Demonstrations/Rallies: This is not about impeding anyone’s First Amendment right to free speech. A lawful demonstration with the properly obtained permits are generally not the concern. They are known to public safety and venue management. Agreements are made on when and where the demonstration will take place. A situation that can negatively impact your venue is when an impromptu protest or similar gathering assembles, thereby potentially impeding the flow of patrons into or out of the venue. This situation, when allowed to escalate, will heighten the anxiety of the crowd who must now pass through or around the protest. Close contact and taunting may also occur, which increases the possibility of civil disorder.

Countermeasure considerations

• Keep informed on demonstration permits. Be sure the authorities know where you are prepared to allow a protest. Otherwise, a location might be approved that negatively affects your event.
• Have your exterior CCTV monitor the protest. This allows real-time responses should it become necessary, and might also serve as needed evidence to a disturbance. The protesters will record their event. Don’t let that be the only documentation.
• Barricades such as bicycle fencing is often used to define a permitted protest zone. Once a permitted protest has been scheduled, coordinating in advance with law enforcement on the source of the barricades is important. Wrongly assuming this detail has been covered is potentially a big problem.

Training & Exercises

Seek out both affordable and current training to address your exterior concerns. There are many options. Crowd management equates to crowd safety. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) has endorsed IAVM’s Trained Crowd Manager program. Both your staff and contract event security management should complete this training.

Exercises, both table-tops and full-scale exercises, are some of the best indicators of emergency preparedness and response effectiveness. Participating in an on-site exercise with all stakeholders is critical. Attending conference-organized exercises hosted by industry and collegiate organizations such as IAVM/AVSS, NCS4, CEFMA, and CAOS helps you better prepare for the unexpected.

Call to Action

The exterior of your venue should not be dismissed as “somebody else’s problem.” Plan, prepare, collaborate, and exercise as much as reasonably possible. Lead by example and insist that your outer perimeter should receive equal attention. You owe it to your staff, talent and especially your patrons.

Mark Camillo is a retired US Secret Service agent, has been directly involved since 2007 with AVSS as a board chair and currently as an academy instructor. Mark serves as a Senior Vice President with Contemporary Services Corporation, and is an adjunct professor at the CUNY-John Jay College of Criminal Justice located in New York City.