Having the proper security plan in place for a special event is essential in the overall success of that event and providing peace of mind to guests.
According to ESRI, special events can be events such as sporting events, outdoor concerts, festivals, parades, and planned demonstrations. A special event can also be something bigger like an exclusive party or opening to a global event like the Olympic Games or a World Cup. Special events play a significant role in local economies and attract participants from outside the community, increasing tourism.
Special event security solutions can be used to plan, prepare, and promote special events within the community as well as manage operations during an event to protect staff and attendees.
The first step in managing special event security is to pre-plan. According to cops.usdoj.gov, depending on the size of the event, pre-planning may need to begin 12-18 months in advance. Preparation is essential to having a successful event and is something that takes time to execute. It is important to create a tailored plan for every event and fully understand the venue for the plan to smoothly play out.
Having an event site map is an important step in pre-planning that helps to provide a common reference for planning, operating, and promoting the event. Creating or having an updated map of the event with the location of event routes, such as parking or stage areas, and assets such as first aid stations, security gates, restrooms, and food tents helps with knowing what staff needs to be where during the event and planning emergency exit routes.
Incident action plans are important in mitigating potential threats and ensuring the safety of staff and guests. Event security management can create an operations map of resources and conduct a high-level threat analysis to ensure every potential threat has a correlating resource to prevent or combat it.
Cops.usdoj.gov recommends performing a comprehensive threat and risk assessment that involves:
According to Cops.usdoj.gov, “the main threat and risk categories are harm to persons, damage to property, loss of revenue for the event and jurisdiction if incidents prevent people from attending or cause increased expenses, increased liability due to negligence; and loss of reputation”. Classifying risks by threat level and separating them into categories can help the planning process run more efficiently.
Once the potential risks have been identified, the proper personnel must be hired. This includes staff to work the event and security personnel to secure the event. Communications technology, access control, traffic control, credentialing, protecting infrastructure and utilities, fire and EMS, weapons detection and management, and training all must be considered and accounted for.
“Carefully planned security operations and multi-agency coordination before, during, and after a large-scale security event are paramount to local law enforcement’s ability to maintain a safe environment and to conduct a successful event”, says the Policinginstitute. Having a well thought out plan and solid communication is the key to operations running smoothly throughout the duration of the event. Ensuring each department has communication with the right people and that there is constant communication between security and staff ensures everything is being monitored properly and security threats don’t slip through the cracks.
Identifying risk management goals for the event ensure there is a tangible goal for event management and staff to plan for and meet. If the goals are not met, the team can reevaluate what went wrong and where improvements can be made in the future. Nonprofitrisk.org says some good risk management goals to have include:
SecurEvent Solutions understands that every event is unique, that’s why we build custom security operations that enhance guest experience while also maximizing risk mitigation. We offer security consulting, compliance, and technologies at the highest level for events of all types to ensure guests and staff are always safe.
Contact the security experts at SecurEvent Solutions to secure your next event!