Ensuring Security for Super Bowl LIVE 52: Rozin Security’s Comprehensive Approach

Client’s Situation, Threats, and Challenges

The Super Bowl, the most-watched event in the U.S. each year, is a cornerstone of American culture. Given its immense popularity and anticipation, security is critical, requiring years of meticulous preparation and continuous refinement.

Super Bowl LIVE 52 was a 10-day street-festival-style event held in Minneapolis, Minnesota, leading up to Super Bowl LII on February 4, 2018. The Minnesota Super Bowl LII Host Committee (MNSBHC) needed a comprehensive security plan to address this extended event’s unique challenges and vulnerabilities.

Rozin Security worked on behalf of the committee to handle the planning, preparation, and execution of the security plan. Over an eight-month period leading up to and during the event, Rozin Security’s team orchestrated a major collective effort. Their work supported successful operations and an incident-free, safe environment for the thousands of employees, volunteers, and the millions of visitors who participated in Minneapolis’s largest sports event.

Challenges

The MNSBHC tasked Rozin Security with all security-related aspects for the event. This included identifying security needs, designing the security plan, obtaining and preparing relevant resources, and managing the implementation and execution of the plan before and during the event. Every detail was crucial to ensuring a successful event.

From a security standpoint, the event presented several major challenges that were a direct result of the event location’s layout, the nature of the event, its scope and magnitude, and its duration. The event posed several significant challenges from a security perspective due to its location, nature, scope, and duration. The following challenges and vulnerabilities were critical in the planning and execution of the security strategy:

• Unrestricted Access — The event occurred in an open commercial urban area, during and after business hours, with no defined perimeter. As a result, access to the event was unrestricted, and visitors were mixed up with local tenants, shoppers, and others. Multiple access points from streets or inside adjacent buildings and skyways made it virtually impossible to physically prevent the infiltration of weapons or other harmful devices into the event zone.
• High Visibility and Length of Event—The event’s high profile and extended duration provided ample opportunities for potential perpetrators to conduct thorough planning, surveillance, and preparations. Ongoing logistical activities and deliveries into the event area posed a potential threat, as harmful means could be concealed under the disguise of legitimate supply chain vendors.
• Traffic Control — Active traffic around and throughout the event area during event hours presented a special challenge to protect visitors from vehicle-related threats such as vehicle ramming, VBIED, or shooting from a passing vehicle.
• Multiple Mass Gathering Areas — Main stage performances, various activation points, and other ongoing attractions created multiple simultaneous mass gathering areas, both indoor and outdoor, which required ongoing security attention. In addition, the high presence of celebrities, talents, and VIPs created an ongoing need for executive protection assignments in multiple locations.
• Coordination of Multiple Stakeholders — Multiple stakeholders included private sector organizations, local, state, and federal law enforcement, along with emergency response agencies, government entities, and others. This presented a special coordination and operational challenge.

Other contributing factors included weather, visibility, high volumes of pedestrians and vehicles, protesters, and crimes of opportunity.

Strategy

Rozin Security began their assessment by developing a security concept of operations (CONOPS), collaborating with various stakeholders to ensure its validity and feasibility. They partnered with organizations such as the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI Minneapolis Field Office, the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, the Minneapolis Police Department, the Metro Transit Police Department, and the Minnesota National Guard. This collaboration ensured a comprehensive team was in place to respond to any incidents.

Additionally, Rozin Security innovatively employed trained Behavior Detection Officers and highly skilled TIER I Security Operators for executive protection. They also leveraged existing security resources, both technological and operational, from nearby class-A commercial real estate facilities.

With the CONOPS established, Rozin Security designed a robust, multi-layered, risk-based security plan grounded in the following principles:

• Threat-based security zones: Included the event and surrounding streets.
• Early detection of potential threats: Utilized behavior detection methods, officers, and other resources, focusing on identifying malicious intent in the context of likely motives of operation, combined with various threat detection technologies.
• Created deterrence: Ensured a heavy presence of uniformed personnel.
• Applied prevention measures: Employed barriers, technologies, and protocols.
• Enabled quick and effective response: Positioned and made available tactical and first response teams in critical areas and times.
• Collected, analyzed, and shared real-time field intelligence: Used a proprietary system for suspicious activity reporting and case management (TIPS).

Rozin Security executed the Super Bowl LIVE 52 event program through the following steps:

• Conducted a Threat and Vulnerability Assessment of the event.
• Designed a detailed security plan, identified resources, and prepared a comprehensive budget.
• Coordinated efforts with various agencies and public/private stakeholders.
• Trained the security workforce with SIRA training in behavioral threat detection, security awareness, and established security protocols and procedures.
• Managed implementation and execution through the Security Operations Center.

Results

Rozin Security, in partnership with the Minnesota Super Bowl LII Host Committee, expertly managed the numerous challenges involved in securing staff, athletes, visitors, and event property at Super Bowl LIVE 52.

Security personnel identified multiple potential threats throughout the event period. Of those, some cases of suspicious activities were handed over to law enforcement agencies, while others led to legal actions. In addition, the security staff encountered several , mostly during major concerts. These situations were successfully handled by the Minneapolis Police Department, and the crowds were kept safe and under full control.

Millions of people were estimated to have visited Super Bowl LIVE 52 during the 10-day event. They attended multiple large concerts and daily activation points and visited hundreds of vendors and businesses in the area. Through comprehensive planning and execution, they ensured a safe and successful event.