Dana Barnes, President of Government at Dataminr explores the three steps to take when planning a major sporting occasion.
Large-scale sporting events are increasingly vulnerable to external threats and criminal activity given their openness to the public, accessible locations and large number of participants.
Whether a high-capacity stadium like those housing World Cup matches or a miles-long spectacle such as the Tour de France, venues need the assistance of local authorities and government agencies to ensure a successful – and safe – event.
The risks are high and range from protecting attendees and infrastructure from external threats to addressing traffic, health risks and the uncertainties of extreme weather conditions.
City managers, local authorities, first responders and government agencies must work together quickly to deploy an efficient and responsive system to safeguard venues.
The one priority they all share is the need to protect attendees – spectators, athletes, coaches, media etc. – as well as the public infrastructure and personnel that facilitate them.
This is no small feat.
To safeguard large, crowded and often emotionally-charged sporting events, situational awareness is essential.
It enables security and prep teams to swiftly receive critical information and warnings, allowing them to stay steps ahead of bad actors and avoid getting caught off guard.
Teams need to understand and assess situations in real-time so they can make well-informed decisions as incidents unfold.
For example, FIFA seamlessly integrated real-time alerting into its operational strategy for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023. Following security-related incidents, the security team acted swiftly.
They promptly assessed the issues in the vicinity, notified the international director, analyzed trends or potential operational disruptions and implemented necessary adjustments in real-time.
Securing large-scale, in-person events necessitates three critical components: pre-planning, operational management and post-event reflections.
If adopted, these three key steps will enable public sector agencies and organizations to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of safeguarding large-scale events, while highlighting the role of real-time information in swiftly mitigating or averting potential threats.
Maintaining streamlined, efficient communication across public and private networks is imperative.
Often, multiple agencies – federal, state, local and private security – are involved in different aspects of event public safety and security.
These diverse stakeholders can create complex communication chains that lack centralized points of contact, which impedes information sharing and agencies’ ability to respond to incidents promptly and efficiently.
Coordination and planning among these stakeholders should ideally commence at least 12 to 18 months before the event.
However, certain events demand an even longer lead time, such as the Olympics and Paralympics.
The preparation for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, California, is already in progress and has been for over a year – illustrating the substantial timeline for effective and meticulous planning.
The pre-event planning phase is the perfect time to look at what’s worked well for other agencies and peers.
Don’t try to reinvent the proverbial wheel. Adopt proven practices.
This is also the time to develop the strategic vision for the event and establish your core planning group.
You can then formalize cross-agency communications, which ensures information symmetry among all the different organizations involved.
It’s important to remember that pre-planning is just as crucial as the event execution because you need to understand the everyday environment of the location.
What types of incidents happen regularly? Has there been a recent increase in public safety incidents? What do traffic patterns look like?
Understanding these factors early on is key to establishing a baseline of knowledge – one that you will continue to build on, from pre-planning to the actual event.
Leveraging real-time information is not only beneficial for day zero; it’s an ongoing necessity.
Employing a single real-time alerting solution that all partners have access to ensures uniform information dissemination.
Take, for instance, the 2022 US Super Bowl, held in Los Angeles, California.
Nearly ten different departments and organizations, both public and private, were responsible for ensuring the safety of those in and outside the stadium.
Many relied on First Alert – Dataminr’s real-time alerting product for the public sector – to get the earliest indication of breaking news events.
They then assessed this information, delivered via real-time alerts and determined what, if any, actions were needed.
Similar to pre-event planning, operational management requires incorporating communications coordination and response scenarios.
During this time, an established core planning group should stress test response plans and ensure those plans are both scalable and flexible enough to pivot or be modified in times of crisis.
This is also an opportune time to ensure that communications chains are clear and the core planning group understands roles, responsibilities and points of contact.
While planning for worst-case scenarios is common, large-scale stadium and sports events are more prone to numerous small-scale disturbances that demand the attention of the public safety team.
Recognizing this, it’s crucial that response plans are adaptable to address a variety of scenarios.
After establishing a public safety strategy, the next step is to subject it to thorough and robust testing before implementation.
Tabletop crisis exercises are a proven and effective method for evaluating the efficacy of response plans, revealing any flaws or gaps in safety strategies.
Practice drills are also valuable and their effectiveness is enhanced when they closely simulate real-world scenarios.
Utilizing the event venue and simulating the use of the intended technology, whenever possible, ensures that teams are well informed, prepared and poised to respond effectively in the event of a major crisis or disruption – even under intense pressure.
Finally, the operational management planning should ensure that members of the core planning team are well versed in using real-time information to inform emergency response plans and mobilize resources quickly in the event of a critical, time-sensitive situation.
By capitalizing on real-time, breaking news alerts, security teams can ensure uniform access to critical information among all stakeholders.
This fosters better alignment and more effective risk mitigation strategies.
After successfully concluding the large-scale event, dedicating time to capture, analyze and share invaluable lessons learned is crucial.
This step stands as one of the most pivotal aspects of planning and executing large-scale events.
Failing to capture these lessons would mean missing a significant opportunity to enhance future operations and minimize duplicated efforts.
As a critical component of operations, the process of documenting lessons learned should be seamlessly integrated, with the core planning team committed to conducting a thorough post-event review.
Establishing responsibility for capturing these lessons is a pre-planning phase necessity, prompting teams to consider the methods and applications for applying insights gained.
When executed effectively, each of these three phases strengthen the security of large-scale events.
Adding real-time information to the equation increases agencies’ ability to protect spectators, athletes, coaches, medical staff, media and the venue staff who make everything happen.
Having access to this information improves emergency response plans, enabling public sector organizations to respond rapidly and deploy appropriate resources during critical moments at large-scale stadium or sporting events.
Large-scale events bring a significant mass of people together, creating a powerful sense of community and excitement among fans and attendees, but they also create opportunities for unique and complex threats.
In turn, security teams must constantly reevaluate their three critical components: pre-planning, operational management and post-event reflections.
This article was originally published in the March edition of Security Journal Americas. To read your FREE digital edition, click here.