• By Redwire
• Posted October 9th, 2016

Sports Facility Security

Florida has many great sports teams, and fans love to go see their games. It is a great way to spend your day. Sometimes, however, things go wrong. Security for sports facilities is as complicated as it is necessary. Event security has become tighter since the September 11 attacks, because of the risk of a terror attack at an event. So far, there have been no terrorist attacks, but people have been injured at sporting events, usually by other fans. Brian Stow was nearly beaten to death by fans in 2011. This highlighted the need for proper security at sporting events. Here are some ways you can keep your facility safe, from any type of security threat.

All sports events require people for the same types of positions. Here is a brief overview of who is needed, and what they can do to keep things safe.

• Parking lot attendants – Look for any suspicious activity, including people doing illegal drugs in their vehicle
• Ticket takers – Verify that tickets are correct
• Gate Security – Make sure that no prohibited items come into the facility, and that no one enters without a ticket
• Ushers – Help people to their seats – keep an eye out for illegal or inappropriate behavior
• Concessions – Provide food and drink, and watch for possible problems
• Field – Keep players orderly, make sure no unauthorized people come onto the field, keep an eye on the crowd, evacuate the field if necessary
• Police/Security – Keep people and property safe

It Takes a Village

Your security staff and police force aren’t the only ones who should be keeping your event safe. Every person on the staff should watch for problems. The best way to handle any security situation is to catch it before it gets out of hand, and that requires every set of eyes and ears you have. However, if you want everyone on your staff to keep the event safe, they all need to know what to look for and what they need to do. This can be a daunting task.

Training for Those Who Aren’t Security Personnel

Your non security personnel don’t need to go through the same rigorous training as your security, but they do need some basic guidelines. These personnel should know what they need to look for, and what to do if they spot something wrong.

What everyone should be on the lookout for:

• People arguing
• People who appear intoxicated
• Weapons
• Drugs
• Anyone you suspect doesn’t belong in restricted area
• Fire or inclement weather

With the amount of staff and the high turn over rate or even volunteers at events, how do you make sure everyone has this information? The best way is to have whoever is supervising the group to go over everything before they start work. In addition to what to look for, they also need to know what to do. Of course you don’t want any untrained personnel handling a security risk, so it is important for them to know to never handle these situations on there own. Instead they should get the nearest member of event security, and let them evaluate and handle the situation.

"Many house fires are caused by someone being careless and leaving a candle burning, overloading a fire outlet, or falling asleep with a cigarette."

Training for Security Personnel

Your core event security team should receive training in sports facility security. Their are a few types of training for security personnel that are very useful. The first is security courses. These courses go very in depth and it is a good idea for your top level personnel to take them at the very least. United States Sports Academy offers physical and online courses. FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security offer free training courses.

The other type of training everyone on your security team needs is security exercises. According to Homeland Security, there are seven exercises they need to perform. Some of these are discussion based. Seminars, game simulations, and table top exercises all fall into this category. The other type is operations based. Actual security drills and exercises are considered operations based.

Security System

In addition to personnel for event security, a good security system is also a must for your sports facility. It will ensure your venue is safe when no one is there, and it can also help with event security. You can get video monitoring systems that allow you to watch video via an app. This can give your security personnel extra eyes, and if an incident does occur, you can review the footage to see what happened. Security systems will also monitor for fire, which is a risk in sports facilities.

Security for sports events is complicated, but this multi faceted approach will help keep your facility and your people safe.