Security at AFL grounds

[Topkent]

See this sort of paranoia doesn't help.

The fence and the entry points where bags will be searched properly and every patron being wanded by metal detector will nullify any attempt at terrorism.

How do we know this?

The 2006 Commonwealth Games.

I cannot recall one single incident at the MCG because the security measures in place were a deterent. Now keeping in mind the crowds the MCG got throughout the event...90-100K for both ceremonies and every competition day. Remember...any trouble has to get past the deterent first.

Secondly, anything that does happen would be confined to either side of the ground - not the full amount. The safest place is actually inside the grandstands or on the playing arena.

There has never been a fence at the MCG for GFs , so is that proof that fences dont work?

 

[Topkent]

I have a rock that keeps tigers away

I would like to buy your rock

 

[pazza]

There has never been a fence at the MCG for GFs , so is that proof that fences dont work?

No just they have never done it.

 

[Topkent]

No just they have never done it.

Just like they have never made everyone strip naked and then wear specialty skin tight onesies upon entry
But hey its necessary right

 

[JUBJUB]

Just like they have never made everyone strip naked and then wear specialty skin tight onesies upon entry
But hey its necessary right

Oh I'm not going to sleep tonight

 

[JackOutback]

I really dont understand why people are against adding further security measures. It will have no influence on the event they are about to see

Strip searching everyone before they enter the MCG would be added security too, but I imagine not many people would be in favour of it. The fact is, security has been increasing far beyond the threat posed and many people are sick of being harassed for wanting to enjoy a game. Security measures that make sense and are proportionate would likely be applauded by most, ill-conceived measures that will have no practical effect just amount to scare-mongering (which may be the point).

 

[Mitchell Madness]

Strip searching everyone before they enter the MCG would be added security too, but I imagine not many people would be in favour of it. The fact is, security has been increasing far beyond the threat posed and many people are sick of being harassed for wanting to enjoy a game. Security measures that make sense and are proportionate would likely be applauded by most, ill-conceived measures that will have no practical effect just amount to scare-mongering (which may be the point).

Its too much compared to the current threat
But if you put procedures in place that are reactionary rather than precautionary, that's when problems happen

 

[Tarkyn_24]

As someone in the security industry let me explain.

The fence is meant to be a physical deterent. What they don't tell you is what levels of security and police will be on the inside of the fence itself.

Based on what was in place for the Commonwealth Games just a decade ago, here is how it worked then.

The x-ray screening points and bag checking points were the only entry and exit points into and out of the MCG itself. The number of points was at least 50, with 5 guards in each. Patrolling the internal perimeter of the MCG, were another dozen guards, plus at least 50 police officers.

You then had event security and stadium security, with access to CCTV of the perimeter and the venue. It was a staggering exercise and not a single thing happened.

I see people asking questions about gunmen...the safest place in that regard is actually in the grandstands, and if necessary the playing arena itself.

Seems to me we have a lot of paranoid people but, I hope the above explains it a bit better than random guessing.

That was essentially what I thought anyway - in such a situation, don't head straight for the exits. Bali bombings etc.

 

[Quinz]

I'd rather take the risk of a terrorist attack vs having the fence, to be honest.

 

[rdhopkins2]

I'd rather take the risk of a terrorist attack vs having the fence, to be honest.

would be an absolute field day for lawyers if a cowardly act occurred.

 

[JackFlash]

"The decision to erect a security fence around the MCG stems from an "ugly" reality", according to Victoria Police assistant commissioner Stephen Leane.

The fence is here to stay, this is the "ugly" reality of life in 2015. I would go further and say it is being erected due to definite and serious threats, details of which we will never know. Of course that will be denied until the cows come home. Precautionary is good, but there is no doubt this measure has come about due to a clear and direct threat. In a statement released this morning, MCC CEO Stephen Gough said the move was precautionary and insisted there had been "no direct threat to the stadium itself". If you believe that, then you believe in fairies.

It is sad and almost beyond belief that this could be happening in Australia, but they have no choice now.

The AFL will most definitely have to accept it also, perhaps match times will have to be brought forward if cars are going to spend so much more time in the car park getting out?

The MCG could empty in 20 minutes in years gone by...we're all going to have our patience tested with this.

It's unfortunate, but they are doing the right thing here with security, it does appear though that those who do wish to harm us are actually winning..

 

[Power Raid]

I don't like living with high security, as it doesn't work other than to install fear into communities.


Ie. The best way to kill people at sporting events is drones. How will a fence stop that?

It is a con, a waste and unnecessary phycological abuse

 

[The 747]

"The decision to erect a security fence around the MCG stems from an "ugly" reality", according to Victoria Police assistant commissioner Stephen Leane.

The fence is here to stay, this is the "ugly" reality of life in 2015. I would go further and say it is being erected due to definite and serious threats, details of which we will never know. Of course that will be denied until the cows come home. Precautionary is good, but there is no doubt this measure has come about due to a clear and direct threat. In a statement released this morning, MCC CEO Stephen Gough said the move was precautionary and insisted there had been "no direct threat to the stadium itself". If you believe that, then you believe in fairies.

It is sad and almost beyond belief that this could be happening in Australia, but they have no choice now.

The AFL will most definitely have to accept it also, perhaps match times will have to be brought forward if cars are going to spend so much more time in the car park getting out?

The MCG could empty in 20 minutes in years gone by...we're all going to have our patience tested with this.

It's unfortunate, but they are doing the right thing here with security, it does appear though that those who do wish to harm us are actually winning..

OMG I hope this is satirical. Nothing is "actually happening".

 

[JackFlash]

OMG I hope this is satirical. Nothing is "actually happening".

Sadly not satirical at all...they are taking this measure very seriously and so should we all. There is plenty happening and they are taking all precautions. This is the "ugly" reality of it all in 2015.

 

[Lyyynnnchy]

How long before AFL games are lockout games, played in empty stadiums? Imagine a showdown with no people at it, or a Gf only watchable on tv, the times they are a changin', military personnel patrolling boundary lines, car bomb goes off in the GF parade. I've already stopped going to theatres and rock concerts.

Lol. Surely not?

 

[Ron The Bear]

I don't like living with high security, as it doesn't work other than to install fear into communities.

And the result of an MCG bombing would be...

My original point still stands. We will rue the day these people were let in.

 

[JackOutback]

Sadly not satirical at all...they are taking this measure very seriously and so should we all. There is plenty happening and they are taking all precautions. This is the "ugly" reality of it all in 2015.

This is the ugly reality of politics in 2015. Yes, there is risk, but this does little to address it.

Good god, what would some people here be like if they lived in the UK in the '80s, they would have erected a barb wire fence around Northern Ireland.

 

[JackFlash]

This is the ugly reality of politics in 2015. Yes, there is risk, but this does little to address it.

Good god, what would some people here be like if they lived in the UK in the '80s, they would have erected a barb wire fence around Northern Ireland.

How do you define a Terrorist? His chief targets must be civilians and noncombatants (not always the same thing), and there must be a political reason why they are his prey.
Perhaps the better name for terrorism is nihilism. The nihilist cannot be placated or satisfied. Like the party of God, he wants nothing less than the impossible or the unthinkable.

 

[The 747]

Sadly not satirical at all...they are taking this measure very seriously and so should we all. There is plenty happening and they are taking all precautions. This is the "ugly" reality of it all in 2015.

I ask you in seriousness, what is happening in Australia? And has anything happened in the past?

By the way as a general question what does this fence prevent? What purpose does it serve?

 

[The 747]

How do you define a Terrorist? His chief targets must be civilians and noncombatants (not always the same thing), and there must be a political reason why they are his prey.
Perhaps the better name for terrorism is nihilism. The nihilist cannot be placated or satisfied. Like the party of God, he wants nothing less than the impossible or the unthinkable.

"You" or "we" dont define terrorists. Terrorists are defined by authorities in accordance with their aims at the time. Nelson Mandela was a terrorist once apparently.

 

[JackOutback]

How do you define a Terrorist? His chief targets must be civilians and noncombatants (not always the same thing), and there must be a political reason why they are his prey.
Perhaps the better name for terrorism is nihilism. The nihilist cannot be placated or satisfied. Like the party of God, he wants nothing less than the impossible or the unthinkable.

The term terrorist and terrorism has been used and abused for political gain to the point that it barely serves a functional purpose any more. For example, the shooter who killed people at an abortion clinic in the US meets the definition of terrorist, given his clear political ideology, more so than Man Haron Monis, whose political goals were ill-defined at best. But that's not what many people would have you believe. Terrorist might as well mean 'the people we want you to be afraid of today'.

But that's all an aside. Yes, the threat of terrorism exists, but it needs to be put in its proper perspective. Since the 1978 Hilton Bombing in Sydney, less than 120 Australians have died as a result of terrorism (that includes Australians killed overseas in terrorist attacks as well as non-Australians killed here). That's less than the number of people that have died (since 2003) in tractor accidents, or falling from chairs, or gastro, or shingles). But yes, let's take away our civil liberties, let's fence people in, let's keep everyone scared all of the time, that seems a proportionate response

 

[Power Raid]

And the result of an MCG bombing would be...

My original point still stands. We will rue the day these people were let in.

nah

the reality is the same thing was said about "wogs" (my family background being slavs fits into that), the asians and it just happens to be the muslims now. sure they are different to the previous groups as the religious aspect is dangerous and many are more religious than the europeans and the asians.

that said, they will harmonise into society but it does take a generation or two to pass the speed humps.


we also have nothing to fear as the western world is infinitely more powerful and just about every nation on the planet is sick of the shit. so it will be resolved but it will take investment in trust from both sides.

 

[Ron The Bear]

nah

the reality is the same thing was said about "wogs" (my family background being slavs fits into that), the asians and it just happens to be the muslims now. sure they are different to the previous groups as the religious aspect is dangerous and many are more religious than the europeans and the asians.

that said, they will harmonise into society but it does take a generation or two to pass the speed humps.

Other groups didn't force changes on us to accommodate/appease them, and didn't need to be watched like a hawk. Muslims from the troubled zone will cost us far more to assimilate. Perhaps everything.

What it means to be 'Australian' has become so nebulous, I think this country is far, far more tolerant of other demographics than it was, except those who want to kill us.

 

[JackOutback]

Other groups didn't force changes on us to accommodate/appease them, and didn't need to be watched like a hawk. Muslims from the troubled zone will cost us far more to assimilate. Perhaps everything.

How have you been forced to change by a Muslim/Muslims?

 

[Ron The Bear]

How have you been forced to change by a Muslim/Muslims?

How about we continue this conversation while we're getting scanned for explosives on Boxing Day.

Once upon a time we called a spade, a spade. Now our leaders are too nervous about offending the friendlier Muslim nations to do so.

After the first crowd bomb goes off, we will question everything.