RAPID CITY, S.D. (KOTA) – After the New Year’s Day attacks in New Orleans and Las Vegas, some people in KOTA Territory may be wondering how they can stay safe the next time they attend a large event.
With the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo coming later this month, along with other large events happening in the area throughout the year, it’s good to be reminded of safety tips people can follow.
The safety and security director of International Association of Venue Managers, Mark Herrera, says people should look for exit points. These points will help attendees at large crowd events escape in the case of an emergency situation.
He added people should never assume they’re safe due to a security presence at an event.
“There’s always gonna be risk, it doesn’t matter how secure your facility is,” Herrera said, “So, what they can do is basically, the most important thing is there’s messaging typically before an event that goes out. Read the messaging, look at all the safety and security precautions.”
Herrera feels it’s easy for people to not report suspicious activity at an event due to never encountering dangerous situations.
“There is a baseline of behavior everywhere you go. If you have an individual that is acting outside that baseline of the behavioral indicators, showing to be very suspicious, that’s enough to alert you to remove yourself from that environment and to report it,” Herrera said.
Herrera believes the biggest threat in the world today is complacency.
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