24th July 2012
The ICSS discusses security at fan festivals and
‘soft’ venues and the
socio-economic legacy left by safe and secure
international sport events at the IACP International Symposium on Sports
Security 2012
Sao Paulo, Brazil; 24th
July 2012: The International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), the
not-for-profit organisation that specialises in sport security and integrity,
today highlighted a number of critical aspects in major sport event security at
the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP)
International Symposium on Sports Security 2012.
As part of its mission to share
knowledge and best practice with event organisers in Brazil ahead of the
country’s hosting of the 2014 FIFA World Cup, a senior delegation from the
ICSS, including Helmut Spahn, Executive Director, Malcolm Tarbitt, Director
of Security and Risk Advisory, Shaun McCarthy, Director of Research and
Knowledge Gathering and Massimiliano Montanari, Director of
International Cooperation and External Relations, led two panel discussions
at the symposium. The panels explored the securing of fan festivals and
‘soft’ venues and the socio-economic legacy left by hosting safe and secure
international sport events.
At the first workshop, entitled ‘The
Challenges involved in safeguarding fan festival zones and soft targets during
major sport events’, Helmut Spahn, who was joined by Malcolm
Tarbitt, stressed the importance of implementing appropriate security
measures at potential ‘soft’ targets during major sport events, including
hotels, restaurants and bars.
Speaking at the event, Helmut
Spahn, Executive Director of the ICSS said; “Fan zones and soft venues now
play an important part in the overall success of a major international sport
event, yet despite this, the consideration these highly-populated venues
receive in the overall master security planning can be minimal. As a
result, there is now a critical need for major event organisers to plan and
provide appropriate safety and security at ‘soft venues’, as well as a need for
the development of international standards of security planning for fan zones
so that knowledge and best practice can be shared between organisers.”
During the second workshop,
entitled ‘Socio-Economic Legacy and the role of the security
establishment in major international sport events’, Massimiliano Montanari and
Shaun McCarthy underlined how hosting safe and secure international
major sport events can play a vital role in the wider socio-economic
development of a host nation, as well as stressing the role that safety and
security investments can have in building national competitiveness and the
benefits of community engagement policing strategies.
Massimiliano Montanari,
Director of International Cooperation and External Relations at the ICSS
said; “New host countries, such as Brazil, face growing concerns about
the scale of investments in safety and security for major sport events and the
competing socio-economic needs of society. However, national economic
development and major sport events need not compete with each other and if
approached in the right manner, sport events can be used to provide
opportunities in economically marginalised communities. At the
ICSS, we are committed to sharing knowledge globally to ensure that the
benefits of hosting sport events are maximised and long-lasting.”
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