World Cup Security: Grenada is Ready
Sun, Mar 4, '07
While the approximately 10,000 spectators were singing along to musical artistes Inspector and Sheldon Douglas, the ICC's local security chief Superintendent Franklyn Redhead was busy observing and assessing aspects of spectator access and processing. A few days after the event, I sat down with Supt Redhead, a 22 year veteran of the Royal Grenada Police Force – 15 of those years spent in the Coast Guard – to get his assessment of the day's exercise.
For those of you who will be attending matches in any of the host venues, read carefully to get an idea of the processes you will have to go through once matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup gets underway.
What was the purpose of the exercise last week Sunday?
It was the rededication of the National Stadium followed by a 20/20 cricket match between the Prime Minister's XI and a select national team. The concept was to carry out some tests of the principles that will be deployed over Cricket World Cup, recognizing that we still have challenges and it's still very much a site under construction so we are not able to practise all of the principles that will be deployed over Cricket World Cup.
So did it make any sense to do it any at all since the venue is not complete?
Well we were mandated to do a second formal testing and this was it.
What was the first?
The first was over Carnival in August 2006, basically looking to see how well we understood and executed the principles and procedures that the ICC stipulates in terms of the wider safety and security management of the facilities.
Was it a useful exercise on Sunday even though you couldn't implement all of the principles?
Well it was very useful in the sense that it gives us some sort of perspective of where we're at prior to the games coming to our shores.
Alright, so where is Grenada at?
Grenada is pretty much ready in the sense that we understand what has to be done. I think the next steps are to ensure that we have much deeper integration between functional groups...
What does that mean?
There are a number of functional groups that support or manage the event, from cricket operations to stadium safety, from law enforcement to volunteers who deal with VIP/Protocol, media and a raft of other functional groups that goes hand in hand in terms of how the games are supported. So the whole notion of "security" necessitates that all of these functional groups work together to deliver what is hopefully going to be a safe event….a safe and secure event.
So in that context, we have to understand the procedures; we have to integrate in terms of knowing which particular group has primacy for an event, who supports the group and who leads and how they loop, how we hand over to successive activities which is important across the range of services that is expected to be provided.
How much training did each of the functional groups have prior to Sunday's event?
Well we've been training for some time, and we have plans on paper but plans on paper has limited value in the sense that you must exercise these plans to ensure that people understand what they are doing. So while we have had training and we have done table-top exercises in terms of simulation and practising some of the procedures, the reality sets in when you actually do it and you understand what your capability gaps, are and what measures you have to put in place to close those gaps.
I got there late and I saw a big crowd and I know that people left, so was the staff overwhelmed?
We were not overwhelmed because the fact of the matter is that from my estimation about 9 – 10 thousand spectators were within the facility. We are anticipating a full house for Cricket World Cup and the staffing requirements are there to deal with that should it be required.
Who are you using primarily to carry out the main duty of stadium security?
Safety and security encompasses all of the groups working together. They have a functional responsibility for specific things but the bulk of the safety activities fall within the remit of the Stadium Safety Stewards (SSS) who have been trained and essentially work for the Stadium Safety Officer (SSO) which is distinct from law enforcement. Police is there, there is a police contingent or police presence but the SSS has primacy for access and egress controls and non-contentious issues, meaning they should not get involved in law enforcement activities.
What I mean by that for example is, when you get to the entry point of the stadium, the process of entering the facility is principally carried out by a combination of Volunteers, and the SSSs who do the welcome, the greeting and the actual searching of persons and screening. Should someone not comply with the Stewards or Volunteers, it then becomes a police or law enforcement issue and they are expected to step in. So while you have law enforcement there, they will step back and allow others to do their work and should someone be belligerent or uncooperative, then the expectation is that law enforcement will take its course.
We are people who have been accustomed to go into the stadium with whatever; we have not been accustomed to these restrictions at all. What kind of training would the Stadium Stewards have undergone to not make issues become contentious?
The Stadium Stewards' role is access control. Before the spectator reaches that point where he is going to be going through this very intrusive search process, he would have met several Volunteers who would have welcomed and indicated what the process is and so forth. Prior to that, you would have had a very robust media campaign. Your ticket conditions would have stipulated what are the conditions under which you can come into the facility, so we hope in some way that these processes would have minimized any potential contentious issues that may occur within the facility.
But nevertheless, on Match Day, it's a layered approach to how we manage the stadium safety, and manage the event successfully. Beginning at the Park & Rides, persons will be deployed there and they will be asking you "do you have any prohibited items or any items that are restricted" before you actually get on to the shuttle, to proceed to the facility. So it's a layered approach beginning at the Park & Ride. In fact, you shouldn't get on to the shuttle if you have any restricted items, so it will be caught pretty early on to reduce or minimize any potential issue that could occur within the facility.
The second layer is when you get to the Spectator Processing Area (SPA) and if any issues occur there, then it has to be dealt with by the commanders on the ground in terms of judgement call, and how the whole issue is resolved. Actually the first layer was the public awareness campaign. Second layer is actually Park & Ride, and third layer is when you get to the access point.
I imagine there a number of different stages that the spectator would go through. So I have a ticket here in my hand for D2 vs A2 on Tuesday 10 April, that will be Grenada's first match. Walk me through the process until I get to my seat in Block 101 Row 11 Seat 28. I don't have a car.
If you don't have a car, you will be using the Park & Rides.
Where are the Park & Rides going to be?
There are three Park & Ride locations – Tempe playing field, Beausejour playing field and Tanteen playing field. So the concept is that you park your car...
Or get off the public bus..
Yes…hop on to the shuttle and it will take you straight into the drop-off stand at the Queens Park stadium. If you are walking to the facility, it's a similar process….you must come through the processing area. All persons going to the facility except VIPs, except teams, will be processed through this spectator processing area.
Where is that area?
It's at the middle of the Athletic stadium; it's going to be cordoned off and rigged for that purpose, tents, rails and things of that nature. The shuttle will drop you outside of that facility and you will be walked or guided into the processing area.
So I am in the processing area now…what next?
In the processing area, there is a nine step process to get into the facility.
Nine! That seems excessive.
No it's not excessive. It's designed to streamline the activities and to minimize discomfort to anyone and to assure us of levels of security once you get into the facility. The first person you would meet and perhaps even at the shuttle drop off point is Stage 1 where you have a Queue Buster which is a Volunteer who says "welcome to the national stadium, hope you have a nice day" and things of that nature. Step 2 will be when you begin to enter the actual processing area, you will have a Soft Ticket Check where you will be asked to show whether you have a ticket. We are not checking at that point to see whether or not the ticket is authentic, but just to ensure that you have a ticket to enter the SPA.
Ok. If I don't have a ticket do you know if tickets will be available for sale at the ground, once there are more seats available?
There are two box offices at the facility. There is a Venue Box Office which is located within the secure perimeter, and that's for future ticket sales and there is also a Perimeter Box Office but it's only for resolving ticket issues on the day and for pick up of tickets.
Step 3 will be a Queue Buster B, another Volunteer who's going to tell you that you're about to enter this area, do you have any prohibited items in your pocket, please get any metallic objects you might have in your pocket out as you approaching the Spectator Search Area. Some bins will be provided so that you can dump things into those bins and once you have dumped those things, they will be thrown away. You will not be able to get them back.
The fourth person will be a Pacer to ensure that the lines or lanes are equal and equitable and moving efficiently and then you come to a bag search then a 'wanding' with a hand-held magnometer which will detect metals, knives etc, then the other person will be a 'pat down', a physical pat down with hands if necessary. Then you have a Search Assistant who will hand you back your items you have surrendered during the search, then you go through to Step 9 which is the actual turnstiles where you put your ticket in and they should open. If they don't open, then it has to go back for resolution at the Venue Box Office which is on the perimeter where you've just come in.
That sounds like a lot of steps requiring a lot of people. How many people will be deployed?
In some venues, there will be as much as 30 lanes. We have to get the maximum capacity - 16,000 persons - processed and seated within the facility in two hours. There will be adequate staffing to achieve this. We have looked at the numbers and we're required to process a certain amount every hour so staff will be staged throughout to facilitate this. This is standard across all venues.
The processing area, is there only going to be one because if I am sitting on the end by River Road – that two tiered stand – do I still have to come in through the Athletic Stadium side?
All spectators, save and except VIPs, teams, media and staff who actually work at the facility will be processed in that area.
What challenges did you face on Sunday that you're now trying to iron out before 10 April?
The challenges were again a lack of understanding of the procedures from some functional groups because this was the very first opportunity we would have had to undertake an event of this magnitude, to get 10,000 into the facility so that we can exercise some of the principles. So integration again, which I stressed before, was not as we would like it to be but as we move forward and we recognized what the shortcomings were and beginning 3 March, we have exercises which will enable us to close these gaps.
I know you would have had a de-brief at the end of the event on Sunday. What was some of the feedback from the Stewards?
Well they felt they should have had more practical hands-on experience in dealing with some of the processes but that could not be helped because we're using a mix of persons from a private security background, law enforcement background and persons who have not come from either background. So that was the main challenge for them. Again, as I said before the only way we can remedy that is to ensure that we have sufficient practise prior to the 10 th, which is already on stream.
I noticed that you didn't have all the lanes, all the railings and so on in place.
No, because we were just exercising the principles. When the overlay items are in, it will be set up so it will be quite easier to manage.
What are overlay items?
Items that are being brought in to specifically to manage the event and they will be gone once the event has concluded.
There is no opportunity to see how the procedures work with a large crowd again before the 10 April?
Yes, we have to do a full stadium blow out which means we have to fill the stadium; we are planning to use students, bring everybody in, do a full blow out to see what the challenges are if we have an emergency which requires a mass blow out of the facility. International standards dictate that if we have an emergency, we have to get everyone out of this facility within 5 – 8 minutes.
I actually did notice that at the end of the event, that within a few minutes the stands were clear. Was that a design feature in the stadium that allows that to happen?
Safety and security is an inherent aspect of the stadium construction design. You will notice that the stairs are very wide, the gates are wider than normal and there are a number of exit points which our old stadium facility did not have. So there are 22 actual gates in the facility now which can blow people out of the facility, but we want a controlled blow out rather than a random blow out because we are encouraging persons to go to pre-determined staging areas as a first measure before they are further dispersed.
Take us through from now until the 10th April.
From now until the first match, it's 'exercise, exercise, exercise'. All hands on board, practical hands on aspect of it, trying to get a deeper appreciation of the procedures. There are 30 top procedures which everybody who works for the facility must know, from event management things, to delivery schedules, contingency plans in the event that we have a number of events that we deem to be a risk to the event, you know, stand collapse, bomb scares and so forth. So all of the groups have to be thoroughly familiar with the procedures in how we manage events like that as we go forward. I guess the mantra will be 'exercise, exercise, exercise' ensuring that people really understand what they are doing because we don't want persons going into the event with 40% knowledge and making up 60% because it would be totally chaotic and once you understand the procedures and the principles, then you are expected to execute in a seamless and harmonious manner.
You've been in law enforcement for many many years. Grenada has been a very safe destination for many many years. What has been the reaction of those who are going to be working through all of these 30 procedures that they have to know, and all of these safety practices…..
Well there are more procedures; there are 30 top ones which we have to know but there are a number of others which also have to be learnt.
Right. So the attitudinal part of it I would imagine, would be a challenge for you to get people to understand why all of these precautions are necessary.
I don't think it's challenging in the sense that people don't appreciate what to do. The real challenge though is our resource limitations; how do we balance and manage the cricket specific activities as opposed to the national security issues, and where do we find the resources to address all of those issues across the board. Fortunately though, we have had good support from our Caribbean counterparts, through CARICOM. We also have good support and collaboration from our international counterparts through the FBI, INTERPOL and so forth. So while it is a local effort, certainly for our leg, there is good support from CARICOM and from regional counterparts. In fact, we have a joint task force being deployed in Grenada to augment our own organic resources in terms of how it is supported across the board. We'll be having CARICOM forces who will not necessarily be staged at the facility but will look after the wider national security interests in concert with their local counterparts.
What is the net that you would be responsible for in terms of security control?
It begins at the facility, the main playing yard, then it's a layered approach again that goes out in concentric rings. Red zones is within your own playing area, then it steps out to blue zones and white zones and so forth which looks at issues beyond our national borders, within our territorial sea and so forth.
I know that you are a cricket fan. Tell me your thoughts as you look towards the 10 th April from a spectator perspective.
Certainly we hope to see West Indies play the first match, that's my aspiration because I think we all want to see our team do well, but from a spectator perspective I hope that we as a Caribbean people support the event and we have a very safe and successful event within our space.
