Managing Large-Scale Security Events: A Planning Primer for Local Law Enforcement Agencies
Large-scale events provide local governments with a number of valuable opportunities, including increasing revenue, revitalizing a city, and providing an increased sense of community. With these benefits comes greater responsibility for local law enforcement to ensure the public’s safety.
BJA worked in partnership with the CNA Corporation (CNA) to develop this Planning Primer which synthesizes model practices pertaining to security planning for a large-scale event, specifically pre-event planning, core event operations, and post-event activities. The guide also includes a comprehensive Appendix including actionable templates, checklists, and key considerations designed to facilitate the planning process.
This Planning Primer also includes key information on financial management to include: preparing a detailed budget, participating in post-award audits, and offering several financial resources that may be helpful to future local jurisdictions planning to host a large-scale security event.
The cities of Charlotte, North Carolina, and Tampa, Florida, received federal funds to cover law enforcement and related security costs during the 2012 Presidential Nominating Conventions. Both BJA and CNA would like to express our gratitude to the Tampa Police Department (TPD) and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) for their full support in producing this document and for their time, expertise, and many contributions to the final product.
Read the two after-action convention reports:
- Command, Control, and Coordination: A Quick-Look Analysis of the Tampa Police Department’s Operations During the 2012 Republican National Convention
- Command, Control, and Coordination: A Quick-Look Analysis of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department’s Operations during the 2012 Democratic National Convention
Other Resources:
Managing Major Events: Best Practices from the Field (Police Executive Research Forum, June 2011)
Planning and Managing Security for Major Special Events: Guidelines for Law Enforcement (U.S. Department of Justice Office of Community Oriented Policing Services and Institute for Law and Justice, March 2007)
Announcement:
Press Release: Guidance for Planning Large-Scale Events Released
OJP/BJA released guidance for law enforcement and local governments for planning and managing large-scale events. The guidance includes three documents synthesizing best practices relating to security planning. They are the result of an analysis of information provided from the Tampa, Florida, and the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, North Carolina police departments as they planned and executed operations for the 2012 Presidential Nominating Conventions.