It Takes a Community to Protect a Community: 5 Steps to Evolve Your Safety Protocols

Panelists:

Rachel Bomeli, Fox Theatre in Atlanta

Bredan Buckley, Nationwide Arena and Schottenstein Center

Carl Monzo, National Event Services

Moderated by:

Jeff Nickler, BOK Center

“I will be the first to say that I am not a security expert,” Nickler began. “I have no law enforcement background. No police training, no secret service training, and no military background. But I am the general manager of a 19,000-seat concert arena. I have been entrusted with the job of protecting the safety of hundreds of thousands of fans each year. That is a very daunting task, one that I don’t take lightly. For that reason, it has become really important for me to stay engaged in the discussion about security. In fact, everybody in this room has an obligation to be engaged in a discussion about security. As the threats have changed over the past decade, there is a real probability that something will happen in one of our venues over the next few years. It’s something that we can’t be complacent about.”

Nickler introduced his panelists: “Rachel Bomeli is Director of Events and Public Safety at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. She has been there for about eight years, and she works 200+ public events and 200+ private events per year. She manages the security team and other life safety personnel, as well as the guest experience team, event managers, and merch.

“Bredan Buckley is Vice President of Columbus Arenas where he manages Nationwide Arena, home to NHL’s Blue Jackets, and Jerome Schottenstein Center, home of Ohio State University’s men and women’s basketball programs and ice hockey team.

“Carl Monzo is President and CEO of National Event Services, a full-service crowd management company. They provide on-site public safety consulting and staffing at venues and festivals including Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, and Coachella. Carl began his career in emergency services in 1979. Over the past four decades, Carl has emerged as an industry leader in safety and security at mass gatherings.”

Planning & Training

“We all have an emergency action plan,” Nickler said. “We all have invested money, and worked with local law enforcement and local security experts, to develop this plan. Mine sits on my desk and I see it every single day. Many venues and events do a poor job of the next crucial step – training and practicing with that plan.”

Bomeli reports that all 275 Fox Theatre staff members, part and full time, undergo a minimum of two emergency preparedness trainings a year. Drills are specific to different types of threats – active shooter, severe weather, civil disturbance. They also prepare with tabletop exercises and department-specific training. Those who participate in the incident command team, or play a role in leading a department, train more frequently. The focus is on communication, radio protocol, and accountability, always with redundancy. “Not everyone is expected to understand the entire plan, and every nuance within it,” she said. “But each person should know their job in an emergency response. Everyone should understand precisely what their narrow order of operations is in the big puzzle.”

Bomeli has a training budget and holds to a training calendar. The Fox event calendar is “relentless,” according to Bomeli. “We plan our all-staff emergency preparedness training, incident command team training, and MOD training three years in advance. That calendar drives everything else we do.”

Buckley has a similar system. He said, “It’s important to go through that emergency action plan regularly. We all live in dynamic communities. You might find that the parking lot where everyone is supposed to meet is now an office building.” In additional to annual training, Buckley sends email communications and Survey Monkey quizzes to staff on a regular basis to make sure safety stays front-of-mind. “For us, it is all about communication and repetition.” Buckley also volunteers space in his venues for police, emergency services, and bomb dog trainings. “They love it and it’s a great place for them to set up different scenarios. Plus, it makes them more familiar with our venues.” Buckley encourages local and social media coverage of this training events. “We want the general public to know what is going on. We want them to feel safe and understand that we are all in this together.”

Monzo attempts the same type of training. “The difference,” he said, “Is that they have 365 days a year to work on it. We’re working on a 7-day schedule when the majority of our staff are on site. We’ve tried online staff training prior to coming to the festival site. Some of our larger groups are bused in from far away, and we’ve done video training they can watch on their way in. The best training is the orientation on site.”

Last year, Monzo began offering bleed training and having bleed kits available, not only to security and medical staff but also to production and site ops teams. Nickler said, “With a mass casualty event, we can’t be naïve and believe that there isn’t going to be a fatality. It’s about minimizing those fatalities. 

“We have several hotels that border our property,” Nickler added. “On their website, the Department of Homeland Security has a free training program about identifying suspicious behavior for hotel staff. We work with these hotels so that their valet, front desk workers, and managers all have this training.”

Show Strength

Security posture matters. “As we become more vigilant at our entrances with metal detectors, bag searches, and bag size restrictions,” Nickler said, “The bad guys have started looking at areas that weren’t traditionally part of our security perimeter.” One of the most recent DHS counterterrorism memos reaffirmed that vehicles are one of the top methods of attack. In outdoor areas, threats also include explosive devices and active shooters, underlining the importance of layers of security.

Buckley has increased the presence of uniformed officers and hardened outside perimeters with bollards and fortified planter boxes. “After Las Vegas, we started looking at adding snipers if we were going to have people on our plaza areas for any extended period of time,” he said. “Nationwide Arena is in a downtown location with office buildings all around. Every time something happens, you have to learn from it and adapt. At our Taylor Swift stadium show, [the tour] had giant video monitors showing her music videos in the parking lots and outside the perimeters. These monitors had cameras, and fans could be in the videos and dance around. It was a fan engagement opportunity. But, those were facial recognition cameras! [The tour] has databases of stalkers, and other people, they are looking for. It was kind of brilliant.”

“Over the years, we’ve fluctuated on how heavy or light our security procedures are,” said Monzo. “After 9/11, security went through the roof. Everybody responded accordingly and the public was okay with it for a time. During enhanced periods, we built towers in campgrounds, or elevated positions in the venues, where we could overlook. It took some convincing to bring these things back. The only way that we found to really convince event producers was to do some fan surveys. The fans don’t see it as big brother. They see it as somebody looking over them. In addition to the towers, we’ll often deploy illuminated 6-foot helium balloons so fans going back to their campgrounds know clearly where to go. The balloons have numbers on them and it’s almost like following the North Star back to their campground.”

 
Bomeli’s venue is in the heart of Midtown Atlanta, where some 600,000 cars pass the building daily. “We spend a lot of time talking about the guest experience and the transformation we desire to give to our guests when they’re experiencing an event at the Fox Theatre,” she said. “Then we talk about the security process that jerks the guest out of that transformation. The personnel outside our perimeter are frontline event staff in Fox Theatre uniforms, instead of security uniforms. That serves two purposes: we’ve extended the guest experience — that warm welcome can happen before the front door and we can help them with the path of travel from their car – but we’ve also added a layer of surveillance. We’re now operating in the spaces that the police would otherwise be operating by themselves. We’ve got additional eyes and ears, and we can approach from a more collaborative perspective.”

“One of the problems we’ve encountered for years,” Monzo added, “Especially with the younger audiences, if they’ve been drinking or if they have drugs in their system, is they’re afraid to come to the medical or security staff. They’re afraid of getting arrested or in trouble. They’re afraid their parents will be called. We took some of our festival uniforms and put messaging on the back: ‘What you say here stays here.’ ‘We’re judgment free.’ ‘You’re entering a safe haven.’ The first year we did it, quite honestly, was a flop. If you think about it, at a festival you have hundreds or thousands of staff members. If they all have this message, it really gives that welcoming feel. Over the last 5 years, these programs have become hugely successful.

“Years ago, some bands would have flipped if there was a cop anywhere near the stage – front, back, anywhere,” Monzo continued. “A lot of the bands were rebellious in their early years. Now they’re older. They want security and they want it to be visible. Now they say ‘The guy backstage with the machine gun, was he our guy?’ We now have state police with long guns walking through the festival crowds. We have deer blinds built into the trees – some visible and some not. Those things are distinct changes to what we’ve seen in the past. Now it’s not only about having a K9 sweep, but it’s having a dog stay onsite all night until the band leaves. 

“Two summers ago, we had a bomb threat in the middle of a show. The venue had dogs on site all night. The dogs were able to sweep the area, announce that it was secure, and the band was able to go back on stage. The crowd didn’t know what happened. They just thought the band took an unannounced break. In prior years or at other venues, that show may have been canceled. It would’ve taken a long time to get a dog there and do the sweep. By that point, we would’ve been at curfew or the band would’ve just said ‘That’s it, we’re going to go.’ There are little changes that really don’t cost us a lot of money, but they go a long way in maintaining the safety of the band, the crew, the venue, staff, and our guests.” 

It is also important to mix it up your security looks. Bad guys observe practices and learn procedures. Don’t give a threat your playbook.

If You See Something, Say Something.™

The key is situational awareness. This is one of the most basic, yet effective, tools out there. We all play a role in keeping each other safe. “If you see something, say something” engages both staff and patrons through awareness–building. This program includes training guest services personnel to continually scan the environment for challenges and potential danger, all while performing their regular duties. We want front-line staff to realize the value of their role. It’s imperative to motivate them and to recognize and reward their contribution. Security measures are only as good as the people manning them. This tool is also helpful with post-event assessments and identifying key lessons to learn from actual incidents.

“The Department of Homeland Security’s program is the basis for a significant portion of our security training. I love that Carl was talking about staff being approachable,” Nickler said. “DHS says that 70% of detected threats come directly from the public. Creating that culture where the public or a fan is not afraid to speak up or share information is key. Our guest services and front line employees are our first line of defense. Often times these people are being paid minimum wage. They’re the people that we have trouble finding and keeping. It’s so important to engage and keep these front-line employees vigilant and empowered – present, alert, and engaged.”

Bomeli agreed, “We talk a lot about training specific to guest experience and security. A lot of times, folks will think that their job is one of these two things – protecting the guest experience or keeping everyone safe. We talk a lot about shared expectations and responsibilities. We talk a lot about surveillance detection. We are also enlisting the help of the guest. This year, we will launch a text-to-notify-us program. Guests can text us from their seat about something that they see that doesn’t seem right or safe. It will also serve a guest experience purpose. They can tell us about the drink that was spilled next to them or the guest behind them who is kicking them. The point is that we’ve added to those eyes and ears.” 

“We consider our frontline staff to be our most valuable resource and asset,” said Buckley. “We try to employ directly, as opposed to using outside contractors. We want to have a direct relationship with our staff. This offers us the opportunity to pay them a little more and keep them happy, engaged, and employed. We identify stronger performers. As we onboard new employees, they are paired up together. We get feedback from the staff to find out what was missed in training, what really sunk in, and what didn’t.”

Maintaining Vigilance

No one should be able to enter the facility at any time without going through the same screening as those entered at the beginning. Many of the attacks across the world have taken place after the crowd was inside and the event was underway. Vigilance also includes keeping staff at post, regardless of distractions and commotions.

Buckley stresses redundancy. He has roaming teams and also people in a command center keeping their eyes on video. They have direct communication with each other. “Overlap covers for us,” he said.

Keeping staff engaged for the duration of an event can be challenging. Bomeli said, “The ways that we combat that are old school – lead by example. When I am working as manager on duty, I am always on the go. I am making rounds the entire time and expecting everybody else to do the same thing. I am checking in with folks and high fiving. We instill a go-team-go attitude. We feed people more often than we used to. We give shorter, more frequent breaks.”

Monzo added, “I think we’ve become complacent in a lot of areas, especially back of house. I don’t think we put nearly as much time and effort into the backstage, our loading docks, employee entrances, or driveways. You have a multi-night tour, you see the same crew coming in day after day and, all of a sudden, he’s okay because he’s been here all week. We don’t do that at the front doors. Some of the bands want to be searched at every venue they go to. They’re rationale is ‘If I get searched, everybody gets searched.’ That means the crew, management, and everyone else. I think it’s a novel approach.

“At a festival, we are allowing lots of vehicles inside our perimeters. Law enforcement has warned for years about the risk of emergency vehicles being used in terrorist attacks. People will fake emergency vehicles or steal them. Police, fire, EMT, tow trucks, water trucks, port-o-let trucks – it doesn’t matter. We have a process. It can be very simple – the vehicle number and the name of the driver (who must provide ID). We’re also doing off site checkpoints with undercarriage mirrors, vape dogs, and a variety of other technology. But the truck itself is the weapon, and we’re letting them drive through our crowds. We’ve begun background checks on the drivers – both driving checks and criminal background checks. In addition to identifying the vehicle, we want to identify the driver. We want to know who is inside our perimeter and driving these vehicles through our crowds.”

For Buckley, it comes down to communication and repetition: “Bag checks and mags for everybody, no deliveries after 2PM on an event day. Just tightening things. Working with the security director on the tour, listening to their concerns and maintaining that relationship from the minute they walk in the door.”

Bomeli is always developing the Fox’s business continuity plans so that if there is an event, they can continue business afterward. She is also tracking and monitoring social media activity. “We’ve had some luck where our own social media team found activity online that warned us of protest activity or other specific threats to the building or events,” she said. In those cases, her team found out before local law enforcement.

National Event Services works with law enforcement, as well as internal resources, to identify key words or phrases, which could be as simple as “fence,” “drugs,” or “bomb.” They are able to quickly analyze to determine if they are a threat. If there is a lot of chatter on a specific topic – a hole in a fence or a gate left open – they can respond quickly. Monzo acknowledged that the technology is not cheap and it needs to be tested and verified. That comes with a big price tag.

Beyond video board messages, stage announcements, and push notifications on phones, there are a number of protocols to communicate with fans in the case of an emergency. Bomeli makes use of her trained staff. “If someone is on a bullhorn at a checkpoint outside, we make sure they’ve done that before,” she said. “They’ve practiced what they are going to say and what they’re not going to say. The people on mic from stage have practiced those messages. Whether it’s prerecorded or live, we’re making sure we’ve said those things out loud as redundantly as possible. So that in the moment – when you forget everything else you’ve done before – you can reference that.”

Nickler is in the middle of a major upgrade to his venue’s Wi-Fi. “If we had an emergency right now, there is no way our very antiquated Wi-Fi system would work with 19,000 fans online. We can’t keep up with that demand. Sometimes you have to have backup plans.”

Buckley added, “Managing public relations from the get-go is also important. Have a Director of Communications and get word out to the family and loved ones of people who were on site. They may be flooding phone channels and actually complicating matters. If you’re proactive on the front end and have that relationship with the media already in place, it frees things up for you.”

Nickler’s final question – asking his panelists to identify the single greatest security challenge at their venue or in their role.

Bomeli replied, “Keeping over 700,000 guests safe when threats, the means by which people intend to do harm, and technology all continue to change. We’ve combated that with a culture of preparedness. You may have heard Russ Simons say 100 times that you can’t ever be ready for an act of terror, but you can be practiced and prepared. That is the space that we live in. To build trust in each other, and within ourselves. To create a work culture where we understand the severity of our responsibility to send people home the way they came. But also to create a culture where we aren’t scared to come to work. We spend a lot of time trying to figure out how to balance those things.”

Monzo: “A porous perimeter. It doesn’t have to be a festival. The Pope came to Philadelphia three years ago. [We were] literally fencing off downtown. How do you patrol 15 miles of fence line? How do you stop people from coming over it? When you have a temporary venue, a porous perimeter is going to be your biggest security threat.”

Buckley: “The greatest challenge is the creativity of the bad guys. They’re thinking of weird new ways to do dumb things. The shootings at the Ariana Grande show in Manchester – that was outside the perimeter and same thing in France at the soccer game. The definition of perimeter keeps moving.”

Nickler closed by saying, “As I stated during my opening comments, it’s intimidating to be a GM or Director of Security because the threats are always changing and we can’t remain complacent. I want to leave you all with a few things. Up on the screen there are some free resources that are out there. DHS will do a free infrastructure survey for your venue or festival. They have the “If You See Something, Say Something™” campaign. There are tons of videos and training videos for bag searches and patron screening on their website. I spoke to you about their hotel program, it’s called “No Reservation: Suspicious Behavior in Hotels.” In Tulsa, we work with the Transportation Safety Administration. They have an office in most cities, and they will do a free vulnerability assessment for your venue. Subscribe to the Homeland Security Information Network (HSIN) for their unclassified bulletins. Your local first responders can also help with training. FEMA has some wonderful tabletop exercises that deal with weather preparedness and evacuations. The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security has free training programs. National Counterterrorism Center posts some fantastic bulletins and articles. There is so much information out there. The DHS website alone is incredible. It’s free and it’s out there. A lot of it is curated to our industry. Please check it out.