Photo By Staff Sgt. Tori Miller | Staff Sgt. Corey Butchko of the Georgia National Guard, Marietta based 4th Civil...... read more read more
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In preparation for Super Bowl LIII, which is projected to welcome over a million visitors to the city of Atlanta, public safety teams from around the country trained and worked together to ensure that visitors of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium could feel secure before, during, and after the game.
The Marietta-based 4th Civil Support Team-Weapons of Mass Destruction, composed of Georgia Army and Air National Guardsmen, work with local law enforcement to identify, assess, and prevent hazards during Super Bowl in Atlanta, beginning eight days before Feb.3, 2019.
"The preparation for Super Bowl LIII started after last years NCAA football national championship ended, so this time last year we began the planning for this event," said Sgt. Neal Welch of the Atlanta Metro Police Bomb Squad.
For the 4th CST, working with other Georgia public safety divisions is a regular occurrence. In October 2018, 4th CST partnered with other groups to form Joint Hazard Assessment Teams to conduct preparations for the Super Bowl. The training included specialists from the Atlanta Police Department including SWAT, bomb squad, K-9 Unit, the Georgia State Patrol, and Georgia Bureau of Investigation. Diverse scenarios to ensure a smooth transition into Super Bowl activities.
For the Super Bowl, 4th CST collaborated with eight additional CST units from around the country, from as far as Washington state to Puerto Rico to Maine. CST units are operated by active-guard personnel, and regularly receive training to be subject matter experts in the ever-changing field of chemical, biological and radioactive warfare. CST expresses the importance of high-level readiness among their personnel.
The 4th CST regularly operates in Joint Hazardous Assessment Teams. For Super Bowl, the CST works with the local, state and federal law enforcement.
JHATs began to patrol on Saturday. The roving JHATs were composed of CST, bomb squad technicians, K-9 handlers, tactical medics and SWAT. The interoperability of the public safety teams allowed for increased capabilities in the event of an incident.
"The first group to conduct this style movement was the Secret Service, but Georgia has worked to perfect JHAT," said Staff Sgt. Corey Butchko of the 4th CST. "We use JHAT any time we are working with Georgia state law enforcement."
The multiple roving teams operate throughout the city 24-hours a day on a 12-hour shift. These teams conduct sweeps of high-traffic facilities and answer to calls of unattended items.
While traditional weapons of mass destruction are a significant concern for the CST, a growing concern for this year's Super Bowl security are illegally modified prescription drugs and low-flying aircraft such as drones.
"It is dangerous, the average-joe could purchase a small amount on the dark web and a single-grain the size of salt could kill a single person within minutes," said Sgt. 1st Class Leyla Oxford of the state of Washington National Guard 10th CST.
To prevent a potential outbreak, security has been increased in heavily trafficked areas, no-fly-zones have been enacted, K-9 teams complete regular sweeps and there are multiple roving JHATs 24 hours-a-day leading up to the big event.
The increased security has had little to no impact on the daily operations of the Super Bowl. Visitors of Atlanta has progressively increased as the Super Bowl approached.
During each 12-hour shift, JHATs conducted searches of parking decks and facilities around the Mercedes-Benz Stadium every few hours in preparation for the projected foot-traffic in and around the area before, during and after the game. Facilities such as local malls, the Georgia World Congress Center, State Farm Arena, the Fox Theater and more will be hosting events for Super Bowl throughout the week.
An increase in low-flying air traffic became a focus for the JHATs. Working with agents from the FBI, the JHATs would locate the source of the drone, and roving JHATs would be dispatched to the area to identify, bring down the device and search the drone. Once recognized, the device would be disassembled, examined and the pilot would be given a warning and told to vacate the location. A no-fly-zone was enacted for the entire week and a select few, and authorized low-flying devices could operate in select areas during the week of Super Bowl.
On Feb. 1, JHAT teams assisted the band, Foo Fighters security personnel and conducted security sweeps of the facility around the concert venue at the Atlantic Station in Midtown, Atlanta.
According to the staff of the Foo Fighters, the band typically does not conduct security checks of this caliber but were thankful for the JHAT and public safety officer's willingness to do a sweep before the arrival of the band and concert on Saturday evening.
On the day of the game CST personnel, were required to stay within a five-mile radius of the Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The JHAT conducted its final sweeps of parking decks and the Home Depot Backyard before and during the arrival of the game fans.
"During the game, everything went well inside the stadium," said Staff Sgt. Butchko. Outside of the stadium, JHATs had a few more calls for drones and unattended items.
CST personnel and their units specialize in support of civil authorities at domestic chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incident sites. After years of investment in staff, units take pride in the level of readiness that CST guardsmen have in the event of an incident.
"Throughout the past ten days of this operation our personnel have manned strike teams at various locations including Mercedes-Benz Stadium, State Farm Arena, Georgia World Congress Center, Fox Theater, the Center for Civil and Human Rights, Atlantic Station, Lenox Square, and both NFL team hotels," said 1st Lt. Juan Gonzales, operations officer of the 4th CST. "The combined strike teams cleared the area of various vehicles, 59 items deemed suspicious as well as assisted in finding and clearing 40 drones and their operators."
The coordination of public safety officers and the nine CST units shows how extended training and operations ensured the safety of visitors to the Super Bowl.
"My hats off to each of the Civil Support Team (CST) members from nine states who assisted Atlanta's 'All Hazards Strike Team' for Super Bowl LIII," said Brig. Gen. Thomas Grabowski, Assistant Adjutant General-Air, Georgia National Guard. "These talented, highly-trained Army and Air National Guard CST members played a key role in helping to keep Georgians and visitors safe so those in attendance could relax and enjoy the big game."
| Date Taken: | 02.03.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 02.05.2019 08:42 |
| Story ID: | 309468 |
| Location: | ATLANTA, GEORGIA, US |
| Web Views: | 444 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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