Large-scale events and venues naturally attract more criminal attention, whether it’s from petty crime for financial gain, vandalism, damages during civil unrest, or targeted violent crime. And 2024 has a copious amount of high-profile, large-scale events and national meetings in the forecast.
So, we asked a few of our Pinkerton Subject Matter Experts to weigh in on what security trends event organizers should consider when planning, hosting, and responding to events. Here are their answers.
Tripwire Monitoring
The political atmosphere has greatly increased risk for event organizers in major metropolitan areas. Large-scale events impact city operations significantly. With a strain on law enforcement and emergency medical resources, tripwire monitoring of areas surrounding the event can elevate preparedness. When tripwires — tools that watch for unusual activity — spot an emerging crisis in the outer and inner perimeter event zones — security experts are notified of the risk and safety exposure and prompted to execute their emergency response and crisis management procedures.
Organizers should also be aware of the potential impacts of socio-political events (such as a former President being sentenced days before a major event) that could have an impact on the type and volatility of protests in the area. Crowd size — and protestors and their proximity to event venues — is a vulnerability. Organizers should limit VIP and other key personnel’s exposure to crowds by pre-determining clear routes and zones prior to the event.
To further help with security, organizers and other organizations located near large-scale events and national meetings are advised to put agents on retainer prior to an event to mitigate the lack of ad hoc resource depletion.
–Casey Zwaan, Associate Director, and Brian Gonzalez, Associate Director
Open-source Intelligence (OSINT)
Open-source intelligence (OSINT) monitoring provides more targeted information to potential threats, which includes timing of potential incidents and scale (e.g. number of protestors and when those might occur). OSINT also provides security personnel with a greater advisory capacity when providing recommendations and deploying agents.
For example, when properly managed, large event venues are relatively secure within the space, however the ingress/egress would likely be the most vulnerable areas. Having high-profile persons arrive and enter via garages, sally ports, or other secured areas would likely mitigate the exposure at that point. Additionally using security drivers and alternate routes could mitigate risks for these persons while traveling.
–Wade Horton, Director
Ideological Association
With the polarizing elections looming, supporters of hardline political perspectives are looking for opportunities to spread their ideology. This can lead to clashes against those with the opposite stances for perceived wrongs, including the perception or insinuation of ideological association or even refusal to take a stance of non-involvement. For example, a company refuses to publicly support one side over another. In this post-trial era, there is the potential to escalate at a more rapid pace.
One area that tends to be overlooked by event planning staff is negative sentiment about the participating groups or proximity to another event with similar concerns. Social media sentiment, around the event location and potential for violence should be identified, monitored and managed not only for event organizers but also organizations near event sites.
–Jason Porter, Vice President
Location, Location, Location
Security trends typically depend on location and context. The greater the awareness or exposure of an event, the higher the associated risk. Security plans are essential to prepare for common incidents, such as crime. Malicious actors have seized opportunities to commit petty theft and looting.
Organizers need to understand the reputational risks associated with events or speakers that endorse or defend certain views on divisive topics, such as controversial policies and ongoing conflicts. Such topics have galvanized animosity and polarization, changing the pattern of clashes. Previously, confrontations mainly occurred between protesters and security forces. However, a surge in clashes between protesters espousing different views has been seen.
Emergency response must be considered, particularly in areas where response time has reportedly increased. For large-scale events, the emergency response could face further challenges, especially amid high-impact events such as violent protests or even terrorist attacks.
Additionally, changes in known climate patterns have resulted in uncommon events and incidents whereby frequency and intensity increase. Aging infrastructure and lack of preparedness in quick-developing incidents have caused significant impacts.
Communication and coordination with private and public stakeholders are essential to share intelligence and coordinate potential responses, including emergency routes and extraction of high-profile individuals.
– Chris Hammond, Managing Director, and Chantal Gonzalez, Director
While every event is likely to be different, Pinkerton experts highlight essential security considerations for high-profile events in 2024, emphasizing an increase in civil unrest calling for proactive measures, such as tripwire monitoring and OSINT monitoring as key for evaluating risks. The significance of collaborative efforts in intelligence sharing and strategizing rapid intervention cannot be overstated, illustrating the intricacy of securing large-scale gatherings in a polarized and unpredictable environment.
We’re here if you need us. We never sleep.