Be it potential terrorists or traffic jams, Los Angeles is prepared
It was a record day for disaster, even by the standards of megalopolitan Los Angeles. Early in the morning, Pasadena police cornered two terrorists in a catering office at the Rose Bowl, site of the Olympic soccer matches. A traffic snarl brought two major freeways to a steamy standstill, and a landslide smothered a chunk of the Pacific Coast Highway. During the Olympic cycling event, a section of bleachers at the Dominguez Hills velodrome collapsed, injuring 50 people. By day's end Angelenos had survived a bomb scare and a raging brushfire.
Well, sort of. Actually, the multiple calamities—340 in all—were fictional, dreamed up for Torchlight III, the third in a series of dry runs of the Olympic-security coordinating system. But for the law-enforcement authorities who went through the exercise last month, the hypothetical mayhem was serious business. Its aim: to give security agencies, ranging from the FBI to the Fullerton, Calif., police department, practice in operating as a unit before the July 28 opening of the 23rd Olympic Games.
The Olympic version of mission control is a draped cubicle deep in Piper Technical Center, a city-owned warehouse and heliport in downtown Los Angeles. Once the Games begin, representatives of all the law-enforcement agencies involved will staff the Pentagon-designed nerve center round the clock. Five large screens will project an array of security information, like the size of a traffic jam or the location of a hostage incident. Says Commander William Rathburn of the Los Angeles police department (L.A.P.D.), who will oversee the operation: " A civilian security coordination effort of this magnitude has never before been undertaken in the U.S. "
With good reason. The 40 training sites, 29 event sites and three Olympic Villages sprawl over more than 4,500 sq. mi. and are linked by about 150 miles of automobile-choked highways. Protecting the anticipated 600,000 athletes, coaches, dignitaries and tourists at each location, and in transit between them, will be a logistical nightmare. Moreover, unlike other nations that have been host to the Olympics, the U.S. does not have a national police force. At least 50 local, state and federal and nine private security organizations are responsible for guarding the Games. This potential jurisdictional tangle was sorted out on paper months ago; the agreements have been tested and refined by the Torchlight exercises. "The bickering has not happened, because all of these people believe we are on a noble mission," says Olympic Security Director Edgar Best, a retired FBI agent.
The bodyguard count alone is positively Olympian. At full strength, there will be 16,000 armed officers on patrol during the Games. Aiding them will be about 8,000 unarmed private security guards. Dressed in blue-and-tan uniforms, the private guards will monitor the Olympic Villages, event sites and hotel lobbies. They will also be on duty at the warehouses and shipping docks of the food caterers for the athletes, making sure that no tampering occurs and that delivery trucks are properly sealed.