PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Following the New Year’s Day terror attack in New Orleans, which killed 14 people and injured dozens more, police in Philadelphia have been implementing enhancements to security efforts.
The incident in New Orleans’ French Quarter prompted officials to postpone college football’s Sugar Bowl until Jan. 2. In response, Philadelphia police ramped up security for Sunday’s Eagles game.
Philadelphia Police Inspector Jack Fleming says talking with law enforcement officials in New Orleans after the terror attack helped them pivot and implement a number of upgrades this week.
“By the time we were working the [Mummers] parade the next morning we were getting information shared throughout law enforcement,” Fleming said
One noticeable change is the addition of SWAT officers with armored vehicles at the Linc.
“That’s one major upgrade,” said Fleming, who leads the Department’s operational support division. “By adding SWAT armored vehicles, we’re just trying to protect people in a different way, in a better way.”
He says the Police Department also recently added drones to their toolkit. “The eye in the sky tells us pretty quickly what additional resources we may need,” Fleming said.
“Those drones can get quickly from spot to spot. They can identify drones that aren’t supposed to be up there. Should there be a fight or some kind of disagreement in the parking lot, we get the drones there quickly and really determine issues we may have and what kind of staffing we need.”
Broadly speaking, the work to protect football fans starts when the stadium’s seats and parking lots are empty.
“They invite us down during the offseason, and we do scenarios,” said Fleming. “We try to always stay one step ahead.”
Then, throughout the season, security at Eagles games is always a multi-agency operation.
“We have great coordination with the Eagles. That also includes the Pennsylvania State Police. That also includes the FBI,” Fleming says.
And just like the Eagles, he says, those agencies evaluate their performance after every game day.
“We look at what didn’t work and we provide upgrades so it gets better and better and better, and we keep improving.”