October 2003
Best Practices: Securing the perimeter

Expecting protestors at the agricultural technology show, management coordinated procedures with a government Security Team and local police

By Cathy Chatfield-Taylor

Outside the Sacramento Convention Center, demonstrators dressed as vegetables caught media attention and dozens of protestors were jailed during the Ministerial Conference and Expo on Agricultural Science and Technology, held June 23–25, 2003. Inside, calm prevailed as 300 delegates from the U.S. and abroad debated solutions to world hunger.

“Working with a U.S. government entity made it easier to pull off something of this magnitude,” says Ricshawn Adkins, Project Manager for B-FOR International, the Fredericksburg, VA-based organizer of the private exhibition held in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) conference. “As an independent show organizer trying to get state and local police, the fire department and federal security officials including the Secret Service on board, it would have been an insurmountable feat in the six months we had to do it.”

When the USDA announced plans to bring together ministers of health and environment from more than 180 nations to explore ways to raise agricultural productivity, groups opposed to such controversial technologies as genetic engineering and irradiation began organizing a protest. Some planned how to disrupt the conference while others opted to buy space inside the exhibit hall.

“Early on, we planned to have all views represented at the trade show,” Adkins says. “There was no effort to exclude certain groups.” The 61 exhibits in 13,000 square feet represented a cross section of private companies, government agencies, associations and nonprofit organizations.

B-FOR coordinated security with the USDA Security Team, which assumed responsibility for security outside the exhibit hall — including the conference center perimeter, delegate transportation and hotel accommodations. B-FOR secured the exhibit hall perimeter, controlled entry and patrolled the floor.

In addition to its usual security procedures, B-FOR followed USDA advice on precautions for identifying authorized personnel, screening for unauthorized materials and communicating with authorities in the event of an emergency. They began by requiring exhibitor personnel to submit full name, birth date, company affiliation and photo identification. Names were submitted to the Security Team, which was authorized to run background checks.

All exhibit personnel, conference delegates and event staff were issued photo ID badges. Before the exhibit hall opened each day, the Sacramento police swept with bomb-sniffing dogs. Six full-time security guards equipped with walkie-talkies manned fixed stations, including the interior entrance and loading dock doors. Upon entry, personnel were randomly selected for scanning with metal detector wands, and security guards read badges.

Monitoring the loading dock proved challenging, given concurrent events at the facility. B-FOR ensured all drivers were badged and monitored how long vehicles were parked.

“Everything was a ratcheted up a notch above what we would usually do for a show,” Adkins says. The added cost, which ran about 75 percent more than normal for a show of this size, was covered by the space fee of $32 per square foot.

Based on World Trade Organization demonstrations in Seattle last year, Sacramento police were prepared for up to 30,000 protestors. Media estimates placed the actual number at anywhere from 200 to 1,000. Activities ranged from peaceful singing to storming the loading dock. (Police radioed ahead, and B-FOR security closed the doors.)

“They were so well organized, strategically placed and in such force, that they quickly overwhelmed any protest that looked like it might get out of hand,” Adkins says.

Communication minimized disruption and averted injury. Even the discourse between the delegates and protesting exhibitors remained collegial. “We let them know that any attempt to disrupt or heckle would not be tolerated,” Adkins says. “We had quality exhibitors. They just wanted their voices to be heard, so they could be part of the dialog.”