I remember when a member of the National Front (ie Nazis) stormed a public presentation I was doing and tried to start a fist fight while getting in my face.
Security escorted him out.
The man was angry, attempting to do a violence, likely dangerous. We de-escalated the situation and everyone walked away unscathed - as horrible as that was, the crucial part is everyone walked away without violence
And that was without a professional, highly paid, planned-for security detail in a public arena.
How is the security team not briefed on how to prevent engaging in violence when confronting streakers? Amateur hour imo. I feel like that should be the first item on the docket at the first planning meeting.
Second, I don’t think we’re talking the same scale here. A sport game has several thousands of fans, lots of them wanting to storm the field. It’s pretty much a completely different job guarding that and a presentation with (presumably) way less people and way less room for people to storm and overwhelm the security.
I’m not a security expert, so I might be wrong, but that just seems to me a whole different scale which is harder to implement.
Someone comes running for the POTUS, it’s a security risk with national security consequences.
What is the likelihood of a streaker at a game actually being a terrorist with murderous intent? Not “is this a non-zero chance of it ever happening?” but “how likely is it it will actually happen”
Well, there’s maybe 5-10 of examples in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iraq, Maurtiana - but the only western examples are the Boston bombing (11 years ago), the Atlanta Olympics bombing (28 years ago) and the Black September hostages (52 years ago) - and a few IRA bomb threats in the uk in the 80s.
None of these were pitch streakers and this pitch streaker didn’t observe any behaviors of the previous MOs. In fact, if they were a bomber, tasing them is probably a bad idea.
I dunno, maybe I’m talking out of my ass here, but I think “fan runs onto pitch could KILL EVERYONE” is a massive over reaction
Right but at what point do you say “we can’t hold sports events in public any more?”
Absolutely the safest way to play is to… not. And sports players are likely more at risk from the sport itself than any audience.
Secondly all live performance - including sport - is subject to influence by its audience. As much as they’re not supposed to, even the most professional team would be affected by their own fans being half empty and actively booing them than being full and being cheered on.
Out-of-hand reactions will always happen. It is up to the organizers to plan and react accordingly. I can’t believe “electrocute the audience” is truly the best course of action.
Edit to say: A cop with a taser would not have helped Monica Celes as due to the nature of tennis, the crowd are close enough to the players to make instant response almost impossible.
I remember when a member of the National Front (ie Nazis) stormed a public presentation I was doing and tried to start a fist fight while getting in my face.
Security escorted him out.
The man was angry, attempting to do a violence, likely dangerous. We de-escalated the situation and everyone walked away unscathed - as horrible as that was, the crucial part is everyone walked away without violence
And that was without a professional, highly paid, planned-for security detail in a public arena.
How is the security team not briefed on how to prevent engaging in violence when confronting streakers? Amateur hour imo. I feel like that should be the first item on the docket at the first planning meeting.
First, that sounds awful. Glad your’re okay.
Second, I don’t think we’re talking the same scale here. A sport game has several thousands of fans, lots of them wanting to storm the field. It’s pretty much a completely different job guarding that and a presentation with (presumably) way less people and way less room for people to storm and overwhelm the security.
I’m not a security expert, so I might be wrong, but that just seems to me a whole different scale which is harder to implement.
I think the issue is risk assessment, right?
Someone comes running for the POTUS, it’s a security risk with national security consequences.
What is the likelihood of a streaker at a game actually being a terrorist with murderous intent? Not “is this a non-zero chance of it ever happening?” but “how likely is it it will actually happen”
Well, there’s maybe 5-10 of examples in Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Iraq, Maurtiana - but the only western examples are the Boston bombing (11 years ago), the Atlanta Olympics bombing (28 years ago) and the Black September hostages (52 years ago) - and a few IRA bomb threats in the uk in the 80s.
None of these were pitch streakers and this pitch streaker didn’t observe any behaviors of the previous MOs. In fact, if they were a bomber, tasing them is probably a bad idea.
I dunno, maybe I’m talking out of my ass here, but I think “fan runs onto pitch could KILL EVERYONE” is a massive over reaction
I don’t think it’s only a danger from terrorists, also regular people wanting to hurt athlists. Take Monica Seles as an example.
You really can’t ever know what a man wants or will do to a “celebrity” if left unchecked.
Right but at what point do you say “we can’t hold sports events in public any more?”
Absolutely the safest way to play is to… not. And sports players are likely more at risk from the sport itself than any audience.
Secondly all live performance - including sport - is subject to influence by its audience. As much as they’re not supposed to, even the most professional team would be affected by their own fans being half empty and actively booing them than being full and being cheered on.
Out-of-hand reactions will always happen. It is up to the organizers to plan and react accordingly. I can’t believe “electrocute the audience” is truly the best course of action.
Edit to say: A cop with a taser would not have helped Monica Celes as due to the nature of tennis, the crowd are close enough to the players to make instant response almost impossible.
No.
Come on, English is my 2nd language, give me at least a bit of slack.
Is your first language Russian? Or Hebrew?