Massive Increase in NFL Stadium Security Measures This Weekend
Massive new security procedures are being instituted at all 32 NFL stadiums to improve security; fans will no longer be searched only from the ankles to the knees, but also from the waist up.
Security has been a major concern of late, most pressingly in recent days after an individual brought a Taser gun to the MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands in New Jersey. The NFL is asking that fans be patient and arrange to get to the games earlier than usual to avoid huge delays at the entrance gates.
This is certainly not the sort of thing most fans want to go through before a football game, but security checks are going to become a lot more stringent. The NFL wants the 16.6 million fans expected to attend games this season to go through “enhanced” security procedures.
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This overall trend of heightening or improved security is also not the exclusive province of the NFL. A litany of strict security measures were put in place at Dodger’s Stadium last April.
These measures included the involvement of off-duty police officers who are normally hired by the Dodgers for security in uniform, as well as strict enforcing of the stadium’s long observed no-tailgating policy.
The increased security was prompted by the opening-day violent altercation in a stadium parking lot, which unfortunately resulted in an individual ending up into a coma. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck commented on this new heightened safety environment:
“This is what you'll see when you go into Dodger Stadium, the first thing you do when you get off a freeway off-ramp or get on a major street that leads towards Dodger Stadium, you're going to see a Los Angeles police car. You're going to see a Los Angeles police officer in that car. When you go through the stadium gates, you're going to see Los Angeles police officers again, monitoring activity, making sure fans are safe.”
