Security

My visit to the Richmond Olympic Oval was my first up close view of external venue security. When I was last at BC Place Stadium where I will be working, the venue was not yet secure and all the measures were not yet in place. By the time I start work on Sunday the stadium will have been swept and secured so I will experience the security system on my first shift.

The entire Richmond Olympic Oval is surrounded by a double fencing system. The first fence is a line of portable Jersey walls topped with a tall chain link fence. Fortunately VANOC has covered all of these fences with Vancouver 2010 wrappers. About fifteen feet inside the first fence is a second chain link fence. In the "no mans land" between the fences are camera polls every few hundred feet. The set up reminds me a bit of the eastern side of the Berlin wall.

There are now 1,000 temporary cameras around Vancouver watching the venues and streets.

Before spectators and volunteers can enter a venue they must walk through a magnetometer just like at the airport and large bags must be x-rayed or searched. Those of us with tickets to the opening ceremonies have been told that the gates and security will open four hours before the event to ensure that there is time to screen everyone. Spectators have been told not to bring drinks including water to events and the Spectators' Guide contains a long list of banned items.

A good business to be in around here is renting white tents. Since venue facilities are not designed to handle this security equipment and the space required, all the security screening is taking place in white tents (with Vancouver 2010 designs on the peak ends). There seem to be small cities of these tents around town.

On my walk around the Richmond Olympic Oval, I saw another sign of the $900 million security effort. All of the manholes on the roads surrounding the venue had been bolted shut.

Vancouver's location provides some interesting challenges. With water on one or more sides of the athletes village, the International Broadcast Center and the Press Centre, buoys and log booms have been put in place to keep boats from getting anywhere near these facilities. Police boats are also on constant patrol.

I'm sure by next Friday and the opening ceremonies, all of Vancouver will be familiar with the security measures. Hopefully the security won't get in the way of all of us enjoying our events and having a memorable time.