Mass Shooting At Music Festival Ups The Ante On Event Security
Absent holding the Las Vegas “Route 91Harvest” country music festival in a different venue, there is likely nothing event planners could have done to prevent the horrific mass shooting that killed 58 and injured more than 500 last month. Of course, such thoughts of venue change would usually only arise through hindsight. The Oct. 1 attack comes on the relative recent heels of other major attacks — Ariana Grande concert bombing, Boston Marathon Bombing, Bataclan Theatre (Paris) shooting/suicide-bombing — targeting large crowds at entertainment events. Such terrorist attacks had already pushed the issue of event security to center stage in event planning worldwide, but now event planners and event safety specialists might need to further up their strategizing. The question we must ask though, before moving ahead is: Where does the boundary of responsibility lie between concert promoters and the local police department? Is it the entrance of the venue or is it an integrated process