Manchester bombing changes security focus
With more security inside, terrorists target the outside
The bombing of an audience leaving an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, late Monday serves as an alarm bell that protecting public venues in the future will have to focus more on hardening building perimeters, security experts say.
That could be a problem just as the summer concert and music festival season is starting. Aside from sports events, live music concerts are the most obvious public gatherings of mass audiences, at least in the USA.
Major music acts are preparing to take to the road, many of them scheduled to play at sprawling, hard- to- secure arenas. And outdoor music festivals could be even more difficult to protect from harm without creating impossible lines of concertgoers waiting to be checked.
Already, some bands are canceling gigs or adjusting their touring plans and beefing up their security details.
Meanwhile, it’s crucial not to panic, exaggerate risks or despair that nothing can be done to prevent attacks at concerts and other mass assemblies, says Brian Levin, a professor at California State University- San Bernardino and director of its Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism.
“Relax, we have over 30,000 people killed every year ( in the USA) in vehicular accidents, so you’re at far greater risk driving on your way to a venue,” says Levin, a former New York City police officer who’s taking his teen son to a concert next month. “People tend to misjudge their fears and risks in part based on their exposure vicariously to attacks through TV” coverage.
The irony, Levin notes, is that past terrorist attacks, including in Brussels and in Paris, suggest that suicide bombers may be changing tactics because of better security.
“The problem ( now) involves perimeters and chokepoints, egress and ingress,” Levin says.
Keeping terrorist attackers from getting inside public buildings has improved so much in recent years, they are increasingly targeting outside perimeters, especially when thousands of people are trying to leave, says Chris Robinette, CEO of Prevent Advisors, a security and counterterrorism advisory firm with clients that include large public assembly spaces.
“A lot of the mechanisms and policies and procedures we have today, such as metal detection, are inwardly focused — protecting inside the venue,” Robinette says. Consequently, he says, terrorists have taken up tactics such as vehicle ramming and suicide bombings at entrances to airports and transport stations.
“We need to start reorienting our security and safety procedures — we call it ‘ expanding perimeters’ — to adapt to new threats,” Robinette says.
Russ Simons, managing partner at facility-management firm Venue Solutions Group, believes the attack on Manchester Arena almost certainly had nothing to do with pop princess Grande, whose concert had just ended.
The bomber may have chosen Grande’s gig merely out of convenience. Or he may have been attracted by the youth of Grande’s typical audience to cause maximum horror.
Simons says security professionals can learn from each attack on a venue where mass numbers of people gather.
“We’re constantly looking at vulnerabilities and things we can change, and there is a vulnerability as people are departing from a facility,” Simons says.
One security tool that could be helpful: “Vapor wake” dogs. Most people have seen bomb- sniffing dogs at work — they focus on objects and spaces at the direction of handlers. Vapor- wake dogs are trained to sniff out bombs before bombers reach their target, by detecting the vapors of the explosive materials combined with the body heat of the bombers, Robinette says.
Aside from technology and canine prowess, ordinary people should become more “situationally aware,” Levin says. “Take control of where you are going: Know where exits are, know how to get from a chokepoint to a place where it’s not as densely packed.”
And if you see something, say something, says Ed McPherson, a Los Angeles crisis manager and entertainment lawyer, even if it’s “politically incorrect” and even if you fear you’re wrong and may be accusing an innocent person. Stopping and frisking an innocent person is preferable to failure to stop and frisk a suicide bomber, McPherson says.