A security plan should be an essential component of your overall event plan. Although, every event does not need to be protected like the POTUS Inaugural Ball, there are certain risk that need to mitigated for every event. Being the one responsible for the overall event plan, you’ll need a specific plan for dealing with emergencies. Preparedness for emergencies will require event intelligence, security operations communication, and crowd control.
Intelligence is a key element to any security operation. Event intelligence speaks specifically to knowing all the pertinent details influencing your event. Who are your clients? Who are your client’s guests? How much buzz is there about the event? The answers to those questions are just a start to understanding the level of security needed for your event. The more complex the security operation, the better finetuned your security operations communication will need to be.
Security operations communication has many different levels. Communication between security personnel and guest, between security personnel and event producers, between security personnel and law enforcement officials, between security personnel and other security personnel. The security portion of the event plan should indicate all of the security, event, and law enforcement stakeholders. In the case of proprietary venue security, a security manager or director should be the point of contact; with contracted security, an account manager should be the point of contact. The method of contact should be specific. Two way radios and mobile phones are common methods for security personnel to communicate with one another and event production personnel. How communication will occur between security personnel and the crowd must also be planned carefully.
Communicating with the crowd is just one method of controlling the crowd. Security personnel are usually responsible for crowd ingress and egress. Crowd ingress, otherwise known as access control, ensures that there is safe and orderly entrance of your guest. Security personnel will also check credentials to make sure all entrants are authorized to be in the venue. Points of ingress are also vital to the safety, security, and convenience of your guest. Egress is the disbursement of your guest from the venue. Whether the event is ending at its scheduled time or an emergency is forcing the evacuation of the venue, security personnel will be responsible for your guest safely and expeditiously exiting the venue. The security portion of your plan should most definitely contain an evacuation plan.
Evacuation plans are just the minimum of what should be considered when formulating the security portion of your event plan. Other consideration may include: an active shooter plan, policies on removing guest, and a VIP protection plan (if applicable). Based on the size and scope of the event, the Event Security Plan can become a large complex document. The Event Intelligence portion can be as simple as a few hashtags to monitor or as complex as personnel files on certain guest that required government security clearance to obtain. The communication portion could require a few phone numbers or phone numbers and radio frequencies for a dozen different organizations. Crowd control can be as simple as listing all the entrances and exits or as detailed as listing the frequency of RFID bracelets issued to guest for entrance. A comprehensive security plan is the best way to ensure the safety, security, and convenience of your guest.