3/19/08 Birmingham News: Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center revisits security after ATL tornado

Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Center revisits security after Atlanta tornado

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

JON SOLOMON

News staff writer

Birmingham News

Link To Article

Like many basketball fans in the state, BJCC Arena manager Bobby Breedlove was watching Alabama’s SEC Tournament game last Friday when a tornado struck the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.

“The first thing I thought of was the impact here,” Breedlove said. “How can we learn from the misfortunes of another facility and make sure we’re covered as far as our safety and emergency procedures?

“As you go through all these scenarios, you think to yourself, `This is one thing we may not use.’ I don’t know this, but they may have thought the same thing in Atlanta and had to enact it.”

The Atlanta tornado, which resulted in the SEC Tournament moving to Georgia Tech, has brought sporting-event security back into the public’s consciousness. BJCC officials reviewed emergency procedures Monday morning in preparation for the NCAA Tournament this week.

Ben Smilowitz, director of the Disaster Accountability Project, said he suspects half of the stadiums and arenas across the country either don’t have emergency plans or don’t follow them as planned when an incident occurs.

“Every county and community should be doing these plans, too,” Smilowitz said. “But the Georgia Dome reminded us that stadiums need to be doing them as well. We’re simply trying to make sure those in charge of safety are doing their
jobs. Is there an emergency plan, who’s in charge, and is it being followed when an emergency happens?”

The BJCC recently went through a weather-related drill. When tornadoes devastated Enterprise last March, the BJCC Arena operated under a tornado warning during the state high school basketball championships.

Breedlove said the public address announcer advised the crowd of the warning and to stay in the arena seating area.

Concession stands were temporarily closed to prevent fans from lingering in the concourse near glass windows.

In the event of an incident this week, decisions would probably fall on the NCAA and the SEC due to the arena’s tenant-landlord relationship for this event, Breedlove said.

The arena’s emergency plan was created with the help of the International Association of Assembly Managers.

The NCAA requires arena security plans to be reviewed by a member of the men’s basketball committee. The reviews aren’t just for weather issues.

Earlier this month, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a threat assessment that said arenas and stadiums are attractive “potential targets during events.” The assessment repeatedly noted that neither agency has any
credible or specific terrorism plots to attack sporting events.

The report, however, said “operational planning and surveillance against sporting facilities are often difficult to detect,” and cited the NCAA Tournament as one of several spring events that regularly brings tens of thousands of fans into large, open-access facilities.

In the past year, there were 34 suspicious activity reports at sports stadiums but they “often lacked sufficient information to investigate or determine if a terrorism nexus existed,” the assessment said.

Fake FBI agent:

A similar threat assessment before the Super Bowl identified four incidents in which terrorists used insiders in their plotting.

One of the three “scenarios of concern” outlined in that assessment was “security breaches and insider threats.” Duplicating credentials to events was a concern listed.

The assessment said during a NASCAR race in Talladega in May 2005, an individual used a hat and jacket with the FBI insignia to impersonate an FBI special agent to gain access to areas of the track. The individual was not questioned by security personnel or staff and moved freely within restricted areas, the assessment said.

Breedlove said the BJCC works in conjunction with Birmingham’s FBI office to provide security.

If the BJCC Arena became unusable for the NCAA Tournament, every attempt would be made to keep the games in Birmingham, said tournament manager Craig Mattox, an associate commissioner at the SEC.

UAB’s Bartow Arena and Samford’s Hanna Arena would be possibilities.

The NCAA requires tournament hosts to check arena and hotel availability for several weeks after the scheduled event in case of a postponement.

Tampa, which will host the SEC Tournament next year, is now making arrangements to find an alternate site should another emergency strike what Atlanta just endured.