Super Bowl LIX is knocking on our door. And now we know just who is doing the knocking—Philly and KC.
It’s sure to be a wild crowd. But outside of the fanfare, Superdome overhaul, and beatification efforts, safety remains at the top of everyone’s minds, local and visitor alike.
In the wake of the New Year’s Day terror attack, a lot is swirling about in terms of public safety.
To get a better view of what’s happening, I interviewed Peter Whitford, CEO of Meridian Rapid Defense Group. Whitford runs the company that makes the archer barriers and is presenting New Orleans with a plan that he says will help secure Mardi Gras and different landmarks around the city.
How are they doing it?
“When I got to New Orleans,” says Whitford, “I had a quick look at what was going on. And of course, the barriers were not set up in a certified way. So we brought a team of what we call certified specialists, and we brought additional barriers and replaced all of the barriers on Bourbon Street with the new fresh barriers, gave them new haulers, new bars, new cables, and new cable covers.”
However, Whitford explains that implementing the new tools is just step one. There’s also a lot of training necessary.
Meridian Rapid Defense Group has been busy getting security officials ready. Whitford explains, “We've now trained, I think, close to 48 people in the city of how to deploy these in a certified way. So I think the city is now in a better placed today to protect and keep people safe… And that's the certification that was missing on New Year's Day.”
Whitford told me about the system itself and the necessity of proper certification, saying "The barriers have 700 pounds of American steel and that's 700 pounds of stopping power. But when you lift the barrier with a transport or a hauler, you're only moving 21.5 pounds of weight as you do it. But when they're certified and set up properly, they can't be more than feet four feet apart because you've got to make sure no vehicle can get in between them. And they work equally as well on roads or on footpaths to block certain areas, so traffic can't get through.”
The equipment still might leave people wondering how well these barriers would work in practice to secure large events like the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. Whitford explained that his company is using prior experiences from similar events to specifically tailor the set up to most effectively handle New Orleans' events.
Whitford explains, “We've done a vehicle safety case and planned for the Mardi Gras. It's five and a half miles. The Rose Parade is 5.4 miles. The similarities are virtually the same, except for the surrounding neighborhoods... We've looked at all the cross streets. Obviously these plans are confidential, because they are sort of lodged with DHS. But what we want to make sure that we're providing a certified solution for one event. For us, I think it's going to be around 900 barriers to get out to do that. And with a fully certified team, we've seen no issues."