Planning and Managing 
Security for Major Special 
Events: Guidelines for Law 
Enforcement 


Impetus for Project 

. 
U.S. Congress Consolidated
Appropriations Act, 2004,
. 
COPS Office shall submit a report on 
best practices developed by various 
federal, state, and local law 
enforcement agencies to secure 
special events of national and 
regional importance. 



Impetus (cont’d) 

. 
These events—sporting events, 
concerts, cultural exhibitions—present 
unique security concerns for law 
enforcement because they are 
attended by large numbers of people. 
. 
Congress also directed that COPS 
develop a training program. 



Project Staff


. 
ILJ (Connors, Webster, Kovener) 
. 
EKU, Dept of Criminal Justice & Police 
Studies (Cordner, Shain, Brodt, 
Collins, Mayberry) 
. 
Cunningham, Seamon, Ohlhausen 



Project Methodolgy 

. 
Literature review—journals, reports, 
agencies’ protocols, handbooks, etc. 
. 
Interviews with experts—NFL, 
NASCAR, USSS, FBI, DHS, PS, others 
. 
Phone interviews with over 40 
agencies about field experiences 
. 
Field observations at over 15 events
. 
Expert focus group 



Some Guiding Principles


. 
Plan for and mange for worst-case 
scenarios—but expect to deal with 
mundane crime 
. 
Anticipate unplanned activities and
spur of the moment gatherings
. 
Law enforcement must be concerned 
with the safety and security of event 
but also the economic impact 



Some Guiding Principles (cont’d) 

. 
Recognize need for and benefits of 
leveraging resources and 
collaborating with others 
. 
Involve citizens and business 
community in planning 
. 
Ensure safety of event but also 
Constitutional rights—freedom of 
speech & assembly 



Some Guiding Principles (cont’d) 

. 
Ensure that rest of jurisdiction
receives essential services
. 
Evaluate continuously and review 
operations and practices to update 
and improve security (after-action 
report) 



Overall Stages of Process for 
Planning & Managing Special Event 
.Pre-event planning 
.Management of the event 
.Post-event activities 

Pre-event Planning 

. 
Mission/charter 
. 
Leadership authority and structure 
. 
Partnership agreements 
. 
Legal authority of assisting agencies 
. 
Lead agency organization structure to 
manage event 



Event Security Key Functional Areas

. 
Personnel resources 
. 
Communications—internal; field
. 
Intelligence 
. 
Fire/EMS/hospital 
. 
Legal 
. 
Field ops—venue security 
. 
Credentialing 
. 
Transportation/traffic 



. 
Emergency evacuation 
. 
Hazmat/WMD—consequence mgmt
. 
Tact support 
. 
Managing disorder 
. 
Media/PR 
. 
Training 
. 
Prisoner processing 
. 
Budget/logistics 
. 
Critique—after action report 



Breaking Rank: A Top Cop’s Expose of the Dark 
Side of American Policing by Norm Stamper, 
Nation Books, May 2005 

. 
We learned many lessons from the 
Battle, foremost of which are: (1) line 
up as much help in advance as you 
possibly can, then find more; (2) plan 
for "force multipliers" (i.e., volunteers), 
but don't become overreliant on them; 
and (3) keep demonstrators at a much 
greater distance from official venues. No 
matter how much they bitch about it.