90,000 fans are screaming for their home team.
It is the final minutes of the 4th quarter for Thursday Night Football. Your home team is down by seven points with 2:42 left on the clock.
You are watching the clock, but not because your biggest concern is whether the team scores to tie the game.
You know that you are two minutes and forty-two seconds away from a smooth egress going off without a hitch.
You finish up your protein bar and start to pack your briefcase. The weather is beautiful, so you call your wife to Google a restaurant for a much deserved Thursday night dinner by the water.
The refs call the two-minute warning on the field.
Your team has everything under control. You start making your way down the hall. It looks like you will be able to hit the road a few minutes early tonight.
However, you start hearing loud chatter throughout the hallway. Then, your radio goes off. Your team is trying to contact you.
You cannot make out what is coming in over the radio. Too many people are talking.
You finally yell into the radio, “What is happening?”
Still, there is too much radio traffic. You cannot understand over all the chatter. You group text your supervisors to change to channel seven.
Finally, you get your supervisors on the radio.
Rushed, your director of security, James, exclaims that a group of armed men are exploiting the live broadcast and are approaching the stadium with guns in hand.
You have an active shooter situation – and you only have radios. Many processes need to be set in motion.
This is the first time your property has experienced an active shooter. You have quickly realized, only having radios has already put your team at a communication disadvantage.
You are unprepared. Your team cannot communicate.
What happens next is critical. What is your next move?
Paul Turner, senior director of event operations at AT&T Stadium explains the importance of being prepared for any emergency in today’s security environment, in Stuart Goldman’s latest Gameday Security article “How to Prepare Stadium Staff for an Emergency.”
"Putting on any sporting event now is a much larger endeavor than it has ever been in the past. In the old days, it was pretty much open the stadium, let the people in and everybody had a good time, and then they went away. It did not have the layers of complexity that we have nowadays. Now we live in a very different world as far as safety and security goes."
Paul Turner is a respected expert throughout the industry that employs proactive operations to ensure his well-trained personnel are part of a seamless game-day experience.
Your staff is critical during crucial emergency situations.
How do you enable your team to be effective when the going gets tough?
Goldman’s article identifies three key areas of focus for any operation:
From advanced training to tabletop exercises to game day information sheets about the particular event, Turner, and other proactive leaders depend on a well-prepared team to ensure every event is smooth.
Because as Goldman’s article notes, “an evacuation takes place after every event,” which means your team is always on – emergency or not.
Now, we will always side with preparation, practice, and communication. However, we believe a core facet of being prepared for an emergency was left out.
As Turner stated, there are many layers of complexity nowadays. The times have changed, and so have the needs of operations.
Modernized technology is a requirement to be a proactive operation in today’s realm of safety and security.
Your strength comes from the technology you use to employ proactive operations. Efficiently execute upon your preparation and practice.
Don’t rely strictly on radios – communicate using the best technology in the marketplace.
You need incident management mobile apps to drive efficient response and communication.
These tools help you to handle that armed group of men efficiently, obtain proper documentation for your risk managers, and come home for dinner with your wife.
It might have to be takeout at this point, but still, you will be home before it is too late!
Incident management mobile applications strengthen how you protect your property and guests.
These solutions close the critical deficiency your operation has that prevents it from being proactive.
Do you know what that is? The answer is real-time communication.
If your team is not armed with radios or allowed to carry their mobile phones, you are in serious trouble.
This will cripple your team during emergencies. Think about your active shooter scenario. You have a radio, and you are still fumbling to get the information you need.
Your team has no way to reach a supervisor or response team when they are empty handed.
Time is critical. Time is of the essence! Time is the difference between late night paperwork and dinner with your wife.
Staff needs to spot incidents and report them quickly. You need to give them the tools.
Speed and accuracy of communication are the keys. Efficiently handle these situations.
Communication and efficiently performing is what prevents incidents from escalating into emergencies. Stop criminals in their tracks. Ensure peace of mind for everyone on your property.
There is good news. Incident management mobile apps optimize communication throughout your proactive operation.
In their simplest and most useful form, they promote two-way communication.
Let’s put that into perspective for you.
Once the active shooter incident is reported, staff can be messaged for more information as needed. Get the details without all of the radio traffic.
How is that for efficiency?
Send pictures or videos of the armed men at their location or as they approach the property.
Your command center and public safety personnel can have real-time whereabouts of these criminals to communicate to SWAT and other response teams.
Nothing slips through the cracks.
Not only can there be communication to and from a single device, but all your team’s devices can be messaged pictures and video.
Let’s take another look at your active shooter scenario. This time, let us look at it with mobile apps in place:
Now, your risk managers need to conduct their on-scene reporting.
They use their mobile tablets to capture a detailed report of what occurred, who was involved, what the resolution is, and that there are no reported injuries.
Your team gets all the information you require.
You can even track how long it took each team to respond to the emergency. This helps you improve for tomorrow.
The complexities are ever-changing and tomorrow is another day for your proactive operation.
You are prepared, you have practiced, and now you have the technology to communicate effectively in the midst of an emergency.
As you know, active shooters are not the only crucial scenario your team must overcome. However, using incident management mobile apps for enhanced communication is your home-field advantage.