Super Bowl 59 is just days away and with more than 100,000 people expected to come to New Orleans, officials are laying out their plans to keep people in the city safe after the Jan. 1 attack on Bourbon Street that killed 14 people and injured multiple others.
At a news conference Wednesday, Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry said his administration has amended and enhanced an executive order that placed New Orleans’ French Quarter district in an enhanced security zone. The order was put in effect following the terrorist attack on New Year’s Day. It applies to the first seven blocks of Bourbon Street and the parallel streets one block on each side. All blocks between Royal and Dauphine streets are also included.
Adding possible strain to security efforts, President Trump will attend the Super Bowl on Sunday in New Orleans, according to a White House official who was not authorized to get ahead of the announcement.
Fox News announced yesterday that Bret Baier will interview Trump during the Super Bowl pre-game show.
This security zone operates concurrently with the NFL’s enhanced security zone around the Caesars Superdome, which is run jointly with the Department of Homeland Security.
The zones take effect Feb. 5 and last through Feb. 10 and prohibit the use of ice coolers or carrying handbags that exceed 4-by-6 inches in size in the French Quarter and at NFL events. Landry also said that law enforcement officers in these areas have permission to search your bag. Those who refuse will be asked to leave the area.
“The public has a role in public safety,” Landry said. “Public safety is a team sport. Just like football, just like basketball, soccer.”
The governor also encouraged anyone coming to the Super Bowl festivities to routinely check social media or the Louisiana Get a Game Plan app for updates on public safety.
Support on the ground to be multiplied
Louisiana officials aren’t the only ones making safety plans around the big game.
The NFL is reviewing security plans around the Superdome on its end and revising them based on any new information gathered, said Cathy Lanier, the league's chief security officer on a recent call with media.
The Super Bowl is a SEAR (Special Event Assessment Rating) 1 event, meaning it will receive federal law enforcement support. After the New Year’s Day attack, that support will be multiplied.
“I think the biggest thing that you'll see that's different following the attacks after January 1 is just a lot more visible law enforcement presence and more hardened security perimeters,” Lanier said.
Fans can expect to see armored cars, surveillance drones, agents on rooftops and hundreds of law enforcement officers. There are multiple road closures and checkpoints surrounding the Superdome as well, so attendees can expect heavy traffic.
Juliette Kayyem, a homeland security expert who was assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security under the Obama administration, said there will be less difficulty securing the Superdome than there is for areas like Bourbon Street.
“It's a little bit, in a weird way, easier than Bourbon Street, which is open by design,” she said. “A stadium is not open by design, and therefore, it's easier to fortify even though it's a much bigger event.”
Louisiana officials have created a training program for hospitality workers and businesses involved with the Super Bowl that will help identify terrorist activity. They have also told the public that if they see something suspicious, they should report it.
Kayyem, however, urged caution when making a report.
“What [we] have tried to do is to give not what someone looks like, but actually what someone is doing so that it would focus on the activities of a person,” she said.
Kayyem said an example of this could be if you see someone packing a lot of materials in a car after midnight or if it looks like someone is scouting an area.
She also suggested not to engage with that person and to contact law enforcement immediately.
This story was produced by the Gulf States Newsroom, a collaboration between Mississippi Public Broadcasting, WBHM in Alabama, WWNO and WRKF in Louisiana and NPR.
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