Letter 32 – REPORT – February 98
Safety and security have always figured among the top priorities of the French Organising Committee. This was, in fact, an aspect that played a considerable part in the success of France’s bid for hosting the 16th World Cup. And its attitude in this respect has become increasingly resolved since the beginning of its mission. For with 32 teams competing, 64 matches to lay on over 33 days in 10 different venues, and 2.5 million spectators to look after in the 10 stadiums, it is absolutely vital to get it right. Though the Committee’s aim is to achieve a zero risk level as far as possible, it is also important to make sure that the friendly nature of a big social gathering like the World Cup is preserved intact. “If security is too tight, there’s a danger of too much tension building up. And if that sort of situation arises, the safety aspect will only deteriorate,” says Dominique Spinosi, Head of Safety and Security at the CFO, one of whose jobs is precisely that of achieving the ideal balance of keeping people feeling both relaxed and secure. Success depends on three important points: a well-adapted policy of prevention, an effective sharing of responsibility between the State and the French Organising Committee and close collaboration with foreign authorities. The security control centre of each stadium – here we see that of the Stade de France – will be the nerve-centre of the security set-up, with video monitoring cameras covering all the stands and the main entrances. Run by the Prefecture (regional governing body), the centre will be manned by the heads of the public security and CFO security departments. This joint command should ensure optimum operational efficiency in maintaining public order both inside and outside the stadium precincts. |
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At each venue, the Committee will also be laying on a first aid service in conjunction with an emergency assistance organisation of the same type as the SAMU (a national emergency ambulance service). “The strong point of this set-up is the completely professional aspect,” says Dr. Nicolas Gorodetzky, in charge of the medical side. “All those involved are emergency specialist doctors, who are used to coping with very serious situations on a daily basis.” In all, the CFO’s medical assistance service will consist of 110 doctors and nurses, and around 1,000 emergency first-aid workers.
However, safety and security does not just involve people. It covers a whole range of areas within the organisation, like ticketing. The printing of the 2.5 million precious tickets giving access to the ten FRANCE 98 stadiums will be incorporating the most advanced security technology. In another area, power supplies are to have emergency back-up systems, and the same goes for the IT and telecommunications networks. Accreditation, the Volunteers and transport will also have tight security controls, and a strict eye will be kept on food hygiene. It’s vital that nothing is left to chance at the World Cup stadiums, where everyone is a VIP. That’s the only way that FRANCE 98 can be the party everyone is look-ing forward to.
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A BRIEF run-down |
1995 (21 January): the date the law defining safety and programming guidelines was passed (effective as of 24 January), detailing the sharing of responsibilities concerning safety and security at profit-making sporting, recreational or cultural events, namely: within the zones where the event takes place, the organisers are responsible for security; outside these zones in the public area, the national police or gendarme (army police) forces are in charge of security
1 first aid station per 10,000 spectators
1 first aid worker per 1,000 spectators
1/3 of the stewards will be security professionals (2/3 will be Volunteers)
6,000 police and gendarmes on hand daily throughout the World Cup
100,000 French francs: the amount of the fine, plus one year’s imprisonment, incurred by any spectator who “disturbs the progress of the competition or endangers the safety of any individual or possession” (article 42-10. Law no. 93 1 282 of 6 December 1993)
1 steward per 100 spectators (meaning 800 for the Stade de France alone)
105 million French francs for safety and security (4.33% of the CFO’s entire budget), of which FF 40 million goes to the State
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International collaboration |
On the initiative of the French Ministry of the Interior, the Interministerial Delegation to the World Cup (DICOM) and the French Organising Committee, a work session was held on Wednesday 14 January this year for representatives of the English, Scottish and French authorities involved in the Security aspect of the forthcoming World Cup. “It’s important to have people in charge, both outside and inside the stadiums, who can accurately interpret every gesture and reaction, and who can also spot the real hooligans,” says René-Georges Querry, head of safety and security with DICOM. “For example, the British police are very familiar with the working methods of English hooligans. And so, when the matches are going on, there will be at least one foreign policeman on duty in the security control centre. Then between matches, the same policemen will oversee their own supporters as they travel around.” The aim of this initial general meeting, coming after numerous bilateral exchanges on the subject between the same authorities since 1996, was to establish a co-operative working system between the three countries’ representatives to deal with all aspects of safety and security, including the reception of British delegations and supporters, crowd control and movement of fans around France.
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Sharing Responsability |
The organisation of safety and security depends on the sharing of responsibility between the State and the CFO. At the venues, this will take the form of two security perimeters around the World Cup stadiums. This division of responsibility was made official with the signing of an agreement between the State and the CFO on 21 May 1997.
THE CFO PERIMETER
The “CFO perimeter” includes the stadium and its immediate vicinity, in other words the installations managed by the CFO such as the Press Centre and Accreditation Centre. Inside this zone, the CFO will be responsible for security, but the police and gendarmerie may intervene at any time at the Committee’s request or on their own initiative. The CFO will be in charge of welcoming and assisting spectators, as well as ticket and security checks, through their team of stewards (there will be roughly one for every hundred spectators). The ten FRANCE 98 stadiums will also have numbered seats and video monitoring systems, ensuring comfort and peace of mind for the public – both vital factors in the overall success of the competition. The CFO will, in addition, be providing round-the-clock surveillance for all the venues, a task to be carried out by specialist companies.
THE STATE PERIMETER
The second or “State Security” perimeter covers a wider area. At each venue, the State will be providing a security contingent within this zone consisting of around 600 policemen in charge of screening and searching spectators. These 600 policemen will, as can be imagined, “stand out a mile” – but they will also have 200 to 250 “incognito” colleagues providing more discreet surveillance. However, René-Georges Querry, head of safety and security for DICOM (Interministerial Delegation to the World Cup), adds: “The State is not excluded from the CFO Perimeter. Those in charge of public security forces are also at the helm within the stadiums, working shoulder to shoulder with their CFO counterparts and the stewarding team managers.” The State will also be providing security protection at the 32 teams’ training centres and accommodation areas, in close liaison with the CFO. This task will be taken in hand by RAID, GIPN and GSIGN troops, crack units in the national police and gendarmerie.
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“Enjoying the event to the full” |
Conversation with Dominique Spinosi, Head of Security and Accreditation at the CFO
According to Dominique Spinosi, the CFO’s head of Security and Accreditation since October 1995, and also deputy governor-general and an ex-international volleyball player, the World Cup will mark a turning point in terms of “managing” the general public. Like the players on the pitch, they must simply respect the rules and regulations.
HOW DID YOU SET OUT TO DEAL WITH SAFETY AND SECURITY FOR THE WORLD CUP?
Our ultimate objective is to enable the public to enjoy the event to the full, while keeping within certain boundaries. As France has now completely changed its methods concerning crowd management, this involves making sure that everyone knows what the boundaries actually entail. Up till now, our tendency has been to isolate the spectators, put them behind wire fences, and surround them with hefty security troops. Our present approach takes each and every spectator into account. We don’t look on them as potential delinquents, because if you treat people like that you only create a feeling of insecurity. And I think this is going to help things enormously. We’ve taken the English system as a role model: it proved its effectiveness during Euro 96, for example. And we’ve adapted it to fit in with our own way of doing things in France.
A SYSTEM WHOSE MAIN THRUST IS THE PRESENCE OF THOUSANDS OF STEWARDS. WHAT EXACTLY WILL THEY BE DOING?
Their job will not just be welcoming, guiding and informing the spectators, but also keeping an eye on their safety and security. However, when circumstances warrant it, the stewards will immediately alert their team manager. Stewards are there to look after the public, and to react to any eventuality. But at a given moment a situation may escalate beyond their control, and they have to be able to hand over instantly to the next link in the chain of command. And surveillance is also carried out by the security control centre through the video monitoring system. So, if need be, a joint decision can be made by the head of stadium security and the State representative on whether police or gendarme troops need to move in.
| “Dominique Spinosi (centre) in front of the Stade Vélodrome at Marseille. “We are taking the English system as a role model for our World Cup security measures.” |
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WHAT ARE YOUR MAJOR FEARS?
In general, I’m not really very worried, even if the political and legislative climate is not very favourable to us, with the borders opening up all over Europe. For instance, we can’t legally prohibit supporters who are known to be violent from entering France. But it also must be said that football hooliganism is a phenomenon that proliferates more around clubs than national teams. In addition, with our personalised ticket system and computerised seat allocation for supporters in the stadiums, we have several ways of keeping tabs on things. All the same, we mustn’t drift into complacency. There is always an element of risk involved in an event with such a lot of media coverage.
IN AN EVENT SO WIDELY COVERED BY THE MEDIA, THE SLIGHTEST INCIDENT CAN TAKE ON HUGE DIMENSIONS. HOW CAN YOU PREPARE FOR DEALING WITH EVERY EVENTUALITY?
We shall be ready to cope with anything, thanks largely to the co-operative measures developed with the State. The security programme will be directed on a national scale from a central co-ordination station set up at the Ministry of the Interior. It will bring together the liaison officers from the security services of the 31 other countries taking part in the World Cup, and from the national police and gendarme departments in France. This central station will be in constant contact with the CFO control centre, which is also in Paris. And this close co-ordination will enable us to take the right decisions as rapidly as possible. But it must be said that in security terms, it can be very dangerous to overdramatise. Above all, we must keep a realistic view of the problems linked to laying on a match. There won’t be two games the same during FRANCE 98. Acting with the State, we have to be able to adapt our security measures to the reality of the dangers that may occur, in the way that best fits each situation.
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Security at every level |
| For the CFO, the idea of safety and security does not just apply to welcoming the public. It has implications in all areas of the organisation. A look at the various “security zones”. |
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Accreditation is an integral part of the CFO’s security measures, and as such is a sector where security is extremely tight – necessarily so, when one thinks of the 50,000 personnel who will be issued with access badges during the World Cup. The manufacture of these 50,000 passes will integrate several different security processes – in particular regarding the paper and plastic film used – to make them impossible to fake. The ticket-ing department will be working along much the same lines. The 2,500,000 FRANCE 98 tickets will be very precious items, so extremely tight security features have to be incorporated in their design and printing. Further safeguards include issuing tickets in the name of their holders, and only sending them out three weeks before the competition starts.
It is another area where security is of crucial importance. The national network linking all the venues and the local network within each venue will all have back-up systems to avoid any breakdowns. And security is an integral factor in the use of the 200 database servers providing information to 2,000 PCs, and so copies of all data will be stor-ed in several different places. The Volunteer Programme also has to be able to deal with any “troop withdrawals,” so if any Volunteers fall ill the day before a match, Human Resources have a number of Replacement Volunteers who can instantly swing into action to fill the gaps in any department. Yet another safety valve is being provided, whereby candidates who were not finally selected for the World Cup have agreed to be on stand-by.
And food – some 744,000 meal services are to be provided during the competition – will be monitored with particular care. Two catering firms were selected because of their excellent record in this respect. Daily hygiene regulations will be even stricter than those usually applicable to restaurants, because the meals won’t be eaten in the place where they are cooked, so strictly regulated refrigerating and reheating processes will have to be used.
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‘We’ll even have flying Doctors !” |
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CONVERSATION WITH DR. NICOLAS GORODETZKY, HEAD OF THE CFO MEDICAL SERVICE |
WHAT ARE THE OVERALL MEDICAL ASSISTANCE MEASURES BEING LAID ON FOR THE WORLD CUP?
The CFO will be setting up a medical assistance service in each stadium and its immediate vicinity. This will work along the same lines as the SAMU (an emergency ambulance service), and will be overseen by a local medical manager. Each venue will have an average of half a dozen first aid stations, where 9 doctors, 3 nurses and between
50 and 100 first aid workers will be working. There will be a control centre in each of the stadiums, run by a CFO regulating doctor with a permanent assistant. We shall have a main first aid station with a medical worker in charge of logistics and an intensive-care team, together with several first aid outposts manned by emergency medical staff. Several back-up stations have also been programmed for particularly susceptible areas, which could cope with large numbers if an emergency “heat wave-type” situation were to arise. Not forgetting our “flying doctors,” the trump cards in our set-up, who can move very quickly and step in at any given moment anywhere in the stadiums in their small electric cars. On the pitch itself, an emergency doctor specialising in sports-related and casualty medicine will be on hand to back up the team doctors. Lastly, there is the International Media Centre, which will be manned by a medical team from France Secours.
ARE THERE ANY FEATURES SPECIFIC TO FRANCE 98 IN THE ORGANISATION?
Its special feature is that it is managed entirely by professionals. To ensure a top-quality service, we selected real emergency specialists. All the FRANCE 98 medical staff are trained emergency doctors used to dealing with serious cases. And thanks to Hewlett-Packard, we also have state-of-the-art equipment such as defibrillators (apparatus for heart resuscitation after a cardiac arrest) and a data transmission system. We’ve set up measures that leave nothing to chance. It’s worth noting that the medical service laid on for the last World Cup in the United States, for instance, was not nearly as comprehensive.
WOULD YOUR ORGANISATION BE ABLE TO COPE WITH ANY SITUATION THAT MIGHT ARISE?
We’re used to dealing with all kinds of problems, such as a patient falling into a coma or having a heart attack. And we’ll be using exactly the same kind of equipment as a “standard” emergency service. So we can cope with extremely serious cases. It’s true that we would be limited in the number of people we could treat simultaneously. But it’s also very rare to have a large number of gravely affected patients all at once. If that were to happen, we’d be in a crisis situation. And at that point, the public sector medical assistance bodies, with whom we’ll be in constant contact, would move in. At the other end of the chain, France Secours, the official medical assistance company to the World Cup, will take charge of patients once they are hospitalised, and accompany them home afterwards.
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VOLUNTEERS : 93,500 Hours of Training |
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Volunteers form the backbone of the CFO organisation, and there’ll be 5,000 of them working in safety and security. Aside from their impressive numbers, the success of the set-up will above all depend on the skills of the Volunteers, who’ll be working alongside 1,850 security professionals. Their training is therefore of vital importance. It is based on a reduction system, meaning that each management team trains the people it manages directly. |
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At each venue, those in charge of Security train the supervisors; the stewarding and access control managers train the team leaders, who in turn train the stewards themselves and the accreditation supervisors. After several hours’ instruction in the lecture hall on the tasks of the Safety and Security personnel and how to help spectators, the Volunteers go to their future field of action: the stadium and the venue access control points. Training is extremely practical, and consists mainly of being coached in the various jobs of Security Volunteers: knowing their way around, getting to know the stadium inside out, learning where they should be at different moments during the match, resolving problems when an incident arises, rapid transmission of information to those in charge, checking access passes, and so on. At the same time the participants receive detailed back-up in the form of guides and route maps, containing all the information they will have learned during training.
Before the FRANCE 98 kick-off, the stewards will have had a rehearsal in their own stadium during various “dry run” matches (the Tournoi de France, the Finals Draw, the French Championship, and the League Cup final for the Stade de France). So they will have had some initial experience in dealing with the footballing public. In total, there will be some 93,500 hours’ training dedicated to Safety and Security, spread over 16 different modules and adapted to the particular demands on each security worker.