Anti-terrorists at the City Stadium in Lodz!
On the 6-7 March a Large Scale Exercise (LSE) have been organized by Safe Stadium consortium. The large-scale exercise was held at the Lodz City Stadium. It was a joint effort of the whole partnership with the leading role of Biohazard Prevention Center (UniLodz), City Arena of Culture and Sport (Makis), The Regional Police Headquarters in Lodz (KWPL) and International Security and Emergency Management Institute (ISEMI) .
The Safe Stadium project is entering its final phase, and this exercise was one of the final stages. The exercise was aimed at testing the procedures and recommendations developed as part of the project, which are mainly intended for sports event organizers, facility administrators and law enforcement.
The event started in on 6ht of March with training for stewards and security managers. The training covered:
- Introduction to CBRN and crucial CBRN procedures (e.g.: recognition, response, evacuation) – presented procedures were evaluated during the LSE,
- Table top exercise, which analyzed response to threats tested during LSE,
- Virtual Reality session, which tested VR solution developed within the project.
The second day was the Large Scale Exercise. The event covered: terrorist attack on the spectator with unknown chemical substance. This attack was followed by an evacuation of spectator and decontamination of those who were affected. Simultaneously the terrorist, who was trying to run away, was stopped by Police, following an exchange of fire. The LSE allowed the project to test various recommendation and procedures developed within Safe Stadium. In the event almost 400 people were involved: around 300 Police and UniLodz students acting as spectators, 25 stewards, 160 Police Officers form various units and 20 fire fighters. Specially for this exercise, the FK Gerlachov football club came to Lodz from Slovakia to play a match against the LKS III Lodz team.
,,Biological threats are the most difficult to counter, because clear procedures are the most difficult to develop in this case. The procedures must be complex and diverse.”
– Head of the Biohazard Prevention Center at the University of Lodz – Michal Bijak