When thousands of people visit the Twin Cities for the NCAA Final Four this weekend, a team of law enforcement leaders will be keeping watch from their command post.
They will be overseeing officers in the streets and at U.S. Bank Stadium, with the goal of ensuring safety for everyone during one of the nation’s biggest annual events. The team has had a little practice.
Police will be using lessons learned and equipment obtained from when the Twin Cities hosted the Super Bowl last year. Officers from dozens of departments aided in the Super Bowl detail — which at times had a military atmosphere and proceeded without any major hitches.
“It is so rewarding to see all the puzzle pieces coming together after months and months of planning,” said Cydni Bickerstaff, Minneapolis Final Four Local Organizing Committee vice president of event operations. “We have set the table and are ready to host over 90,000 people.”
For police, one takeaway from the 2018 Super Bowl was the importance of the high-tech Multi-Agency Command Center, said Lt. Jon Kingsbury, the deputy public safety incident commander for the Final Four.
The command center is in a secret downtown Minneapolis location. It’s where decision-makers from various departments can view what’s happening on the streets in real time from the city’s public safety cameras, see the locations of officers on a large 3-D map and coordinate with each other face to face.
The center has been instrumental for recent big events and will be busy again during the Final Four games.
BIG CROWDS, BIG UNDERTAKING
Police are expecting the Final Four, and festivities surrounding it, to be safe and family friendly, Kingsbury said. Along with the games at the stadium, there will be a fan festival at the Minneapolis Convention Center, concerts at the Armory and a street fair along the Nicollet Mall.
The events from April 5-8 are expected to draw about 94,000 visitors, according to the Final Four Local Organizing Committee. The stadium will be able to hold 72,000 people.
RELATED: Read all the Pioneer Press coverage of the Final Four here.
To keep them safe, law enforcement from 23 local agencies have partnered with Minneapolis police to provide officers during the events. For the Super Bowl, the Minnesota National Guard helped with security; they won’t be during the Final Four.
More than 1,300 officers will be working — though not all at once — during the four days. On Saturday, what Kingsbury believes will be the busiest day, about 920 officers will be working.
Local police aren’t on the hook for staffing costs — the anticipated $1.3 million price tag was paid by the local organizing committee, a nonprofit acting as local planning partner for the event.
ST. PAUL OFFICER PLAYED COLLEGE BALL
While there were some events in St. Paul and Bloomington for the Super Bowl, all the Final Four activities are concentrated in downtown Minneapolis.
St. Paul is sending nearly 150 officers to help and the Ramsey County Sheriff’s office is detailing about 30 deputies.
Both departments said they will maintain normal staffing levels back home.
“We wouldn’t send anybody over if we felt it would have a detriment on serving the city of St. Paul because that’s our No. 1 priority, said St. Paul Police Senior Cmdr. Kurt Hallstrom.
Among those working inside the stadium will be St. Paul police Sgt. Sarah Nasset. She was a point guard for two years at what is now Central Methodist University in Missouri.
Nasset is excited to be close to the action at U.S. Bank Stadium, though she won’t have the experience of being there as a fan since she’ll be focused on everyone’s safety.
“My dream come true would be to go see the Final Four for the women,” Nasset said. “It will be on my bucket list, maybe when I retire.”
PLANNING FOR MORE THAN A YEAR
Minneapolis police said there were no major crime problems during the Super Bowl, and Kingsbury anticipates the Final Four will be similarly safe.
In the days around the Super Bowl at U.S. Bank Stadium, police arrested men in undercover sex trafficking stings. Law enforcement also found more than 150 counterfeit tickets on game day.
They’ve been preparing for Final Four security for more than a year, since the Super Bowl wrapped up.
In February, the FBI put local departments through a tabletop exercise. It was a time when they practiced their responses to various situations, from worst-case disasters to a foodborne illness outbreak, Kingsbury said.
The Multi-Agency Command Center was established in Minneapolis about a year before the Super Bowl and has also been used to coordinate security at the X Games Minneapolis, Aquatennial fireworks and the Twin Cities Marathon. Police upgraded some technology in the command center for the Final Four, Kingsbury said.
Kingsbury’s overall message for basketball fans and other visitors checking out Final Four events is to have fun and stay safe.
“Like the NCAA says, ‘Know before you go,’ ” he said recently. “Know where you’re going, know what you’re doing, know your surroundings, just the general basic safety practices that a family coming downtown would normally do.”
And noting that many of the visitors will be on foot, Kingsbury cautioned motorists to “pay attention when you’re driving downtown. There will be a lot of visitors to the area and not everybody’s going to know where they’re going.”
