There's No Pro-Active Security Against A Mob Mentality

Dec 1, 2004 12:00 PM

The overwhelming feeling around the National Basketball Association is that the fans and players — not to mention the arena workers — deserve a “safe” environment to enjoy the game and the interactive features that most NBA arenas have to offer.

That vision was shattered on a Friday night in late November at The Palace in Auburn Hills, Mich., when Indiana Pacers player Ron Artest jumped into the stands to fight a slew of fans who had thrown full cups of beer at him. Artest was followed by more of his teammates — all of them throwing wild haymakers at anyone, innocent or guilty, who got in their way.

Now, the NBA and its commissioner, David Stern, are looking to revamp security measures in a sport where fans get closer to the action than in any other.

Which leads us to what seem like age-old security industry questions: How much security is too much, and could an incident like this have been avoided?

At the next Detroit Pistons game at The Palace, unarmed guards and fully armed police officers created essentially a “human blockade” between fans and the players. And there were no incidents.

Then again, an incident like the fracas at The Palace had never occurred before that fateful Friday night.

The bottom line is clear: No number of security officers is going to stop a determined fan or player (or terrorist, for that matter) from starting a riot.

Artest — who was suspended for the entire season — experienced what some might call a bout of “temporary insanity” when he was hit with a beer cup. Before anyone could react, he was in the stands looking for vengeance with his fists.

And faster than teammate Stephen Jackson could come running in throwing knockout punches, the entire crowd of half drunk fans was pouncing on the players attacking them.

It's called a riot because, in an instant, everything turns to chaos. Most security directors know there really isn't a pro-active stance to take against events of this nature.

Defending against a mob mentality will always remain a security director's and security officer's reactive duty. That nobody was seriously hurt in the chaos at The Palace was a reactive victory in itself.

Want to use this article? Click here for options!
© 2012 Penton Media Inc.

This month in Access Control

• Targeting The Customer
• Electronic Pedigrees
• One Hero Among Many
• Who? What? When? Where? Why?
• More from September's issue