Inside Mississippi State's security plan for football gamedays after recent bomb threats
STARKVILLE — Mississippi State was among a string of schools in the Magnolia State to receive a bomb threat two weeks ago. This came a day after a similar series of threats in Alabama at schools including Auburn.
The threats proved to be false, but Mississippi State still reacted in an, “abundance of caution” by evacuating the Barnes & Noble and using K-9s to check for any explosives.
This process was efficiently performed on a late-July day when campus is barren, but how does Mississippi State respond if such a threat is made on a college football gameday? It starts on Fridays.
“We take a lot of precautions before the game ever starts,” MSUPD chief Vance Rice told the Clarion Ledger. “All three of our dogs come in and spend hours scouring the stadium the night before the event.”
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Once the search is complete, the stadium is locked down. Any individual entering the stadium following the search is known and monitored. Some portion of gameday security is already in place, and cameras are used to patrol as well.
When Saturday arrives, the security procedures are common. Fans, media and others go through metal detectors and have bags searched. When equipment trucks arrive for teams, the K-9s are around to sniff those large bags.
Air monitoring equipment is also set up around the stadium. If someone is using a nuclear medicine therapy, Rice says this equipment is sensitive enough to pick it up.
The variety of equipment and dogs is met by officials who are in Starkville on Saturdays. Along with the local police departments, Mississippi Highway Patrol and police officers from surrounding communities provide help. Meetings are held prior to games to ensure all parties are on the same page.
“If it’s about fan safety, Mississippi State has said, ‘If it’s going to make it safer, let’s do it,’” Rice said. “They’ve been very good.”
Part of the security process includes decision-making with such threats. Rice says bomb threats are often false because those with true malicious intent don’t call to say where an explosive is located.
With a stadium holding 60,000 fans, generating panic and evacuating Davis Wade Stadium could create a stampede with worse results than a fake threat being called in such as the one two weeks ago triggered by a juvenile.
“It’s a real fine line between safely evacuating the stadium or staying put and not telling because it’s likely there’s nothing there,” Rice said. “A lot of things are going to be considered, for certain.”
Stefan Krajisnik is the Mississippi State beat writer for the Clarion Ledger. Contact him at skrajisnik@gannett.com or follow him on Twitter @skrajisnik3.
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: Inside Mississippi State's security plan for football gamedays
