Securing Kansas City While Securing Goals
Kansas City Police Department (KCPD) is prepared for any situation the World Cup may bring
BY EMMA FAHRLANDER
Major Abigail Martinez (B.A. ’02). PHOTO / BRANDON PARIGO
The FIFA World Cup is the world's largest sporting event. Previous host cities have seen visitors in the millions during the tournament. Although the Kansas City Police Department is only expecting to see an additional 630,000 people within their jurisdiction, they are prepared for anything.
“KCPD is the lead law enforcement agency for the entire tournament in this region,” Major Abigail Martinez (B.A. ’02), events and special projects coordinator for the Kansas City Police Department, said. “But we aren’t the only one. We’re bringing in mutual aid resources, law enforcement officers from other departments around Missouri and Kansas, and they will assist us with these events.”
Martinez has a deep sense of pride in what her team has already accomplished. These agencies have been working and studying behind the scenes for almost two years. Protecting everyone, from tourists visiting Kansas City for the matches to longtime residents who may be unaware of the tournament, requires thorough preparation.
“There are 18 working groups within safety and security for the tournament,” said Pam Kramer, CEO of KC2026, a nonprofit organization overseeing strategy and delivering host city duties for the FIFA World Cup in Kansas City. “More than 50 agencies, local, county, state and federal; they're planning for everything from public health to drone mitigation, to cybercrimes, to human trafficking, all of the things. It's a massive undertaking.”
And with KCPD leading the charge, game-day tension will not be left to chance.
“We’ve sent Major Martinez, who's leading us for the KCPD, to the Union of European Football Associations championship games so she can see firsthand what a match day on this national scale looks like,” Kramer said.
That trip to Germany included seeing what worked and what didn’t at the tournament matches. It also gave host-city security leaders an inside look at how to manage security for external venues, such as the Fan Fest on the south lawn of the National WWI Museum and Memorial, as well as hotels, transportation for FIFA officials, and training facilities. With the possibility of Kansas City hosting up to three base camps, teams could be in the region long after the six matches at Kansas City Stadium, Arrowhead’s name for the duration of the tournament, wrap up.
"There are 18 working groups within safety and security for the tournament. More than 50 agencies, local, county, state and federal; they're planning for everything from public health to drone mitigation, to cybercrimes, to human trafficking, all of the things. It's a massive undertaking."
— Pam Kramer, CEO of KC2026
Not only is Kansas City leading the charge here at home; there is collaboration among the other host cities across the continent.
“We’re working with FIFA directly while making relationships with the other security leadership in those cities,” Martinez said. “We have our own separate law enforcement meetings where we can talk freely and get ideas from each other. We have those ongoing meetings in the same way that we've set up our regional meetings here in Kansas City. Everybody is involved, and everybody is at the table.”
You could say security has become a team sport. Thanks to the open communication FIFA has facilitated among the host cities, everyone from Vancouver to Mexico City has the support they need to keep their citizens and guests safe.
For those who will not be attending the tournament, Martinez said they should not see much disruption to their day-to-day life. There may be some temporary road closures around matches to protect pedestrians, or if foreign dignitaries make their way to Kansas City, but Martinez is determined to keep things as streamlined as possible.
“We're also very intentional in all of our plans that we are able to either keep the same level of police services or even improve that level of police services to the people who couldn't care less about FIFA,” Martinez said. “People are living in Kansas City who don't even know that there's going to be a soccer tournament in town. They just want to get from home to work, and we want to be there for them just as much as our World Cup guests.”
Thanks to Martinez, her team of other security leaders and the whole of KCPD, Kansas City can look forward to this community event — with world-wide impact — with assurance their safety will be prioritized.
Kansas City, Missouri City Hall Building. PHOTO / BRANDON PARIGO