Super Security, Successful Game

Mar 1, 2005 12:00 PM

The City of Jacksonville, Fla., attracted more than 150,000 visitors in early February for the Super Bowl. And as the parties rolled into Super Sunday, city officials were behind the wheel of a new crisis management software program designed to protect the region in case of an emergency.

The city's Emergency Preparedness Division deployed crisis management software from E Team Inc., Los Angeles, enabling Jacksonville's emergency management staff to connect and have access to the 20 agencies involved with securing the Super Bowl, including the Marine Operations Center and the joint operations center run by the FBI.

To prepare for the week-long schedule of events, the company aided city officials in determining what the city would need in case of a regional attack or disaster; in training Emergency Operations Center personnel on event-specific activities and scenarios; and in programming Super Bowl information — including event schedules and follow-on activities — into the crisis management software.

“The software was able to provide us with a complete picture of the event in real-time, so we knew we were prepared for any possible scenario,” says Chip Patterson, emergency preparedness chief for the City of Jacksonville.

More than 50 law enforcement agencies were involved in the event. They communicated through a new Internet-based portal system that allows the agencies to share information, documents, and video instantaneously. New fences were installed around Alltel Stadium, and an extensive CCTV network was deployed around the city in preparation for the event.

“We planned the event for 18 months,” says Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford, who oversaw the successful efforts.

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© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

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