The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Festivals ‘heavily protected’ in wake of mass shootings
Sandy Hook. Pulse nightclub. Parkland.
More recently, Dayton, El Paso and the Gilroy Garlic Festival.
These cities and places have become inextricably tied in recent years, months, weeks and days with images of horrific violence. Increasingly, they have loomed large in the minds of law enforcement, first responders and city officials charged with organizing public events and protecting the safety of residents.
“It’s not like it used to be,” Norwalk Chief of Police Thomas Kulhawik said. “Sandy Hook for Connecticut was really the start of it. But it’s been more so these activeshooter incidents in public gatherings that really have changed how people view preparing for these things.”
In recent weeks — amid reports of four dead at the Gilroy Garlic Festival in California, 22 killed at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas and nine slain at a Dayton, Ohio bar — Kulhawik and others across Connecticut have been forced to yet again review their own procedures and practices, hopefully warding off the next attack. But for most, after years of highprofile mass shootings, many precautions have already been taken.
“It’s not just recent events, but in light of what’s happened in the last several years, we’ve changed our plans for any large outdoor, or indoor activities,” Kulhawik said. “We’re looking at those possibilities and trying to prepare for them by hardening targets, increasing security, using our tactical team, using bomb dogs to sweep an area and using a drone we’ll put up to monitor the crowd and area.”
Next month, an estimated 35,000 people will converge on Veteran’s Park in Norwalk for the 42nd annual Oyster Festival, a threeday celebration of the city’s maritime origins and a fundraiser for the Norwalk Seaport Association. It’s a trademark event in Norwalk, but one that also brings with it at least some sense of anxiety in light of recent events. Even off the clock, when he attends a church service or goes to a movie theater, Kulhawik said he’s got his guard up.
“I think there has been a little bit of a shift,” Kulhawik said. “In the past, our job was more just keeping law and order. We’re still doing that, but now we have to have an extra eye out that looks for anything suspicious or unusual.”
Stamford’s Alive@Five and Wednesday Nite Live summer concert series draw thousands of guests each week during most of the summer to the city’s downtown.
Sandy Goldstein, president of Stamford Downtown Special Services District, said security has always been a major concern. She has weekly meetings with police and fire personnel to ensure safety for concertgoers at the events, which take place in Columbus Park.
“From day one … we have been extra vigilant in terms of security and enclosing our area appropriately,” she said. During the concerts, the area around Columbus Park is closed to pedestrian and vehicular traffic. Only paying attendees are allowed access and abundance of police officers and security personnel are employed for the events.
“We have more than we need,” she said. “We would rather be safe than sorry.”
She said the downtown organization hires 18 police officers for the events, as well as fire marshals, and even snipers who are out of sight.
Making sure they’re not visible is intentional, she said.
“We don’t want it to look like a police state,” Goldstein said.
While she’s concerned about ensuring safety during the event, Goldstein hopes recent shootings don’t keep people away from the concerts.
“If people stop their activity, then these miserable, heinous terrorists have won and everybody will be stuck in their house,” she said.
Milford Police Department spokesman Michael DeVito also said there will be a heavy police presence on Aug. 17 at the city’s annual Oyster Festival, which attracts about 50,000 visitors each year to its Saturday event and a smaller crowd to Oyster Eve, which is held the night before. But despite the recent shootings, police presence will not be more intense than in past years.
“It’s obviously always a concern of ours, every year, and this year is no different,” DeVito said.
There will be uniformed and nonuniformed officers throughout the festival, “on a variety of platforms,” according to DeVito. Officers will be in cars, on bicycles, motorcycles, boats and on foot.
“It will be heavily protected,” he said, without being specific about the locations and numbers of officers on duty.
Kulhawik also declined to give specific numbers of officers who will be present at the Norwalk Oyster Festival that begins Sept. 6.
“There’s always a significant number of officers patrolling the grounds, in addition to officers that may not be as visible, but they are monitoring the situation, as well as bomb dogs,” Kulhawik said.
Additionally, the organizers of the event hire extraduty police to buttress security and direct traffic.
Norwalk Mayor Harry Rilling and Kulhawik said those attending events like the Oyster Festival should feel safe.
“A lot of thought and planning goes into these events — including public safety,” Rilling said. “I know how hard the men and women of the police and fire departments work to protect our community. They are highly trained professionals, wear their uniforms proudly, and perform their duties remarkably well.”
“We work very closely with the organizers there and we’re all looking for the same thing,” Kulhawik said. “We want a fun, enjoyable family outing. It’s not just terrorist attacks we’re trying to prevent, we’re looking to make sure that we don’t have any incidents.”