NCJ Number
194600
Journal
FBI Law Enforcement Bulletin Volume: 71 Issue: 4 Dated: April 2002 Pages: 1-5
Date Published
April 2002
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes security procedures used at the World Alpine Ski Championship (WASC) at Vail, Colorado, during January and February 1999.
Abstract
Five hundred competitors from the national ski teams of more than 60 countries participated in the WASC. The opening ceremonies on the evening of January 30, 1999, culminated a 3-year security planning process that involved the participation of numerous Federal, State, and local agencies. Authorities predicated security planning for the event on the invitation of 90 national ski teams, many from countries involved in ongoing internal and international political or civil turmoil. Soon after the event was awarded to Vail, authorities established an organizing committee that appointed the Vail police chief as security chairman in December 1995. The chief created a security committee in early 1996 and assembled a multiagency task force, which included more than 30 Federal, State, and local law enforcement, fire, health emergency management, military, and private security agencies. Because of the large geographic area involved and the overlapping jurisdictions, the committee appointed the western commander of the Colorado State Patrol and the Eagle County sheriff as joint vice chairmen. Due to the international scope of the event, the FBI also became involved. This article describes the organizational structure of the security committee under the incident command system, which incorporates the functions of operations, planning, logistics, and finance. In accordance with a certification process that required the concurrence of the U.S. Attorney General, the security committee chairman submitted a written request to the FBI Denver office for the following resources: communications, explosive ordinance disposal, transportation/air support, physical security, operations center, linguistics, temporary facilities, and training. This article also describes the command post and a large-scale practice exercise. An overview of security implementation during the event itself describes the handling of unattended packages, the response to a rumor of mercury poisoning of the water, weather and traffic, and private and volunteer security.