Author: Scott Mullen, CFE

FM Issue: January/February 2017

It is likely just a matter of time until some kind of terrorist attack occurs in an arena setting here in the United States. If the attacks in Paris and Brussels revealed anything, it’s that if someone decides to enter a building with a bomb vest and automatic weapons determined to shoot their way past security, it’s going to be very difficult to stop them. However, we can make a difference by taking precautions to make our venues harder targets.

Venue managers need to take the time to evaluate building security measures and crisis management plans. Most arenas are fairly soft targets but with preventative measures and proper staff training we can make our venues safer and give additional protection to our patrons and employees. We all can make our facilities safer by taking the necessary steps to assess vulnerability, implement staff training, undergo simulation exercises, implement emergency plans and develop crisis communication procedures.  

When the 9/11 attacks occurred in New York, I was then the general manager at the Nassau Coliseum and shortly afterwards SMG hired a security consultant firm led by former NYPD Detective Bo Dietl to perform a Threat & Risk Assessment of our property. It was a very valuable exercise that uncovered several aspects of our building and security operation that were vulnerable. I would highly recommend that every building undergo such an inspection.

Some things were obvious and some were not. Things like the location of the exterior air intake vents and interior return vents need to be monitored and protected from the possibility of anthrax being introduced to those areas; bollards or barriers need to be in place to prohibit vehicles that may contain explosives away from the building; recordable digital camera systems should be in place and monitored; and magnetometers/wands and bag inspection checkpoints should be utilized at all entrances. Containers where explosives could be hidden such as trash cans and newspaper vending machines should not be located in the direct proximity of any entrances or exits. More importantly, our employees and event staff need to be trained and vigilant.

Crisis management and evacuation procedure manuals should be developed and distributed to all staff. Ongoing training is necessary to make sure all employees are aware of what to do in case of a security breach or emergency incident.

Building staff need to be instructed not only to be aware of things that don’t look right, they need to have a clear sense as to what to do when they see something that could potentially be a threat. I recently attended a security roundtable discussion at the Billboard Touring Conference in Los Angeles last November.

IAVM Director of Education, Mark Herrera, was explaining a terrific employee awareness program that he recommends to encourage staff to be vigilant. He calls it the “Near Miss Program.” The basic idea of the program is to get employees conditioned to always be on the lookout for things that are out of place or don’t seem right. 

For example, he recommends that you pick about five employees at every event, give them cards to write on and instruct them to write down anything that seemed out of place, a potential threat or something that could have turned into a dangerous situation as well as any action that they would recommend to be taken. The employees can later be rewarded with something like a gift card for the employee who best identified a problem or came up with the best way to address a potential threat. 

Herrera points out that after a year or so, even if you take the program away, the employees have become conditioned to effectively identify potentially hazardous or dangerous situations and, more importantly, how best to react if something occurs. Instituting this type of “Near Miss Program” is an effective common sense approach that any arena manager can use. It’s not only a terrific way to develop the “If You See Something, Say Something” mindset amongst the employees, it also increases awareness and trains people what to say and who to say it to. 

The unfortunate reality is that even if all these precautions are taken, it’s not likely that a security guard or ticket taker is going to be in a position to stop anyone who comes in firing an automatic weapon. In that case, the only feasible deterrent is to post armed law enforcement officers in the vicinity of all points of entry or, at the very least, make sure there is a way to communicate with police and emergency personnel via radio. Many buildings do not have an adequate number of two-way radios distributed amongst staff throughout the building due to budgetary concerns but it is a necessary investment that should be made. When an incident happens, there won’t be time to run around the building looking for a supervisor or someone with a radio.

We owe it to our arena guests and staff to make sure we have taken steps to provide the safest environment possible. If we do take precautions by using the best industry practices possible we may be able to prevent an incident if something were about to go wrong. At the very least we can hopefully reduce injury, damage, liability and at least have the peace of mind in knowing that we did our part to prevent it.

Scott Mullen, CFE, is the executive director of the iWireless Center in Moline, Illinois. He is also the chairman of the IAVM Arena Sector Committee and serves on the IAVM VenueConnect Planning Committee.