While quarterbacks Cam Newton and Peyton Manning prepare their teams — the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos — for battle on the field of Super Bowl 50, other organizations are preparing for battle as well.
The Department of Homeland Security, FBI, along with several other national and local agencies are looking to make Super Bowl 50 the safest environment possible and are ready to act in the event of a problem.
The game, which kicks off Sunday, Feb. 7, at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., is already starting to fill the Bay Area with fans. An event of this size is always a security concern, but coordination of security started months ago, according to WIRED.
The FBI and Santa Clara police have spent months running drills in and around Levi’s Stadium, cribbing from, and improving upon, tactics other cities have used when hosting The Big Game. Major cities throughout the Bay Area spent the fall preparing for the madness, and have established coordination centers throughout the area.
… The Bay Area already is packed with surveillance equipment installed by the government and private businesses. The hardware includes an array of cell phone surveillance devices, video cameras, automated license plate readers, and most recently, social media monitoring software.
“Northern California law enforcement is always on the cutting edge of new surveillance technologies,” Matt Cagle, an attorney with the ACLU of Northern California, told WIRED. “With the Super Bowl in town, I would not be surprised if many of the technologies that law enforcement agencies have purchased with federal grants are are taken off the shelf and used.”
For the entire story on the security efforts being made ahead of Super Bowl 50, please visit WIRED.com.
