Bengal Fans

[DW Simpson]

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PBS security reviewed
Rogue fan's disruption of Bengals game raises concerns

He made it look easy.

On Sunday, Bengals fan Greg Gall eluded 21 guards and police surrounding the football field, ran onto it before a crowd of 66,000, stole the football from the hands of Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, and sprinted 60 yards before being tackled by security officers.

This kind of thing isn't supposed to happen at Paul Brown Stadium.

On Monday, stadium manager Eric Brown sought to explain how security was breached in the final 30 seconds of the Bengals-Packers game Sunday.

"I don't think anything broke down," Brown said. "We want this to be a fan-friendly stadium."

Gall, 31, who lives in Mount Washington, pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of resisting arrest, trespass and disorderly conduct while intoxicated. He was released on his own recognizance.

Alcohol sales at the stadium stop at the end of the third quarter of play.

The concerns on Monday were these:

How did a spectator get so close to one of the NFL's most celebrated players?

What would have happened if the intruder had a knife or other weapon that had been smuggled past security?

Starting Sept. 25, the NFL required teams to perform pat-down searches at stadium gates on the upper bodies of spectators at all league games. The Bengals have conducted the searches before the past two games, including Sunday.

The NFL pat-down policy is designed to catch a suicide bomber wearing a vest, Brown said. Guards at the gates are instructed to look for bulges in people's clothes and ask them to remove the contents.

Brown said that process could help identify larger guns and knives, but that smaller weapons might go undetected.

The intrusion took place at a pivotal point in what would prove a 21-14 Bengals victory. The Packers were driving for a potential tying touchdown.

Bengals coach Marvin Lewis, who Sunday jokingly said he would slip a $20 bill to the fan, was far more serious Monday.

"That's the first fear that you have: a guy running clean at Brett Favre," Lewis said at a news conference. "You can't have that occur. It's a bad thing. Our people that handle the security feel very badly about it. We'll take steps so that kind of thing never happens again at Paul Brown Stadium. It's not good for the game."

Bengals defensive end Justin Smith said he has never been instructed by the NFL what to do if a fan runs onto the field.

NFL spokesman Steve Alic told The Enquirer that Paul Brown Stadium security was a local issue, and he directed questions to the Bengals.

Bengals public relations director Jack Brennan referred all security-related questions to Brown.

"We're going to review and see how we can better react," Brown said.

A meeting was scheduled for Thursday involving the Cincinnati police, Hamilton County Sheriff's Department and the private contractor that provides security personnel at the stadium for Bengals games.

The staffing level, already among the highest of the 32 NFL teams, Brown said, would be examined.

For a typical Bengals game, there are between 75 and 80 uniformed Hamilton County sheriff's deputies or Cincinnati police officers, and 380 security and fan services personnel from Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC). It is a California-based firm with an office in downtown Cincinnati.

The Bengals pay for security for their games, Brown said.

Not all of the 380 CSC employees work security, but those who do are licensed security guards in the state of Ohio, Brown said. The guards are not armed and do not carry chemical irritants, such as Mace. Police and sheriff's deputies carry guns.

There could be one slight change in how the 21 on-field security personnel and police officers do their jobs.

Stationed around the perimeter of the stadium playing field, they are trained to look into the stands on their side. For example, security personnel on the west side of the stadium look up into the crowd in the west stands.

Guards on the field will be instructed to cross-check the other stands from time to time.

If they had done so Sunday, a security staffer on the west side of the field might have seen Gall hop from the east stands down onto a cart parked alongside the interior wall. The Bengals said the wall is 9 feet high. Brown said it was 7 feet.

Fans might notice the change for the next Bengals home game, Nov. 20, against Indianapolis.

"If they look, they will see the CSC and law enforcement people will be doing more viewing of the stands and have a keener eye on what's on," Brown said. "That's what I am going to ask these people to do - spend more time to use their eyes to patrol the field and the stands."

Brown said security officers were not distracted by watching the game when Gall jumped out of the east stands.

Gall had a ticket for a seat in the lower bowl section from where he emerged, Brown said.

"He was watching what he was doing," Brown said. "And he waited until the security moved and was far enough away and he knew he could breach. He was very methodical."

The Packers had brought at least two security personnel with them, and they were stationed behind the Green Bay bench. Gall hopped the bench, ran toward the south end of the stadium behind Packers players and coaches, and entered the field at the 40-yard line.

Gall ran another 30 yards north on the field before cutting behind Favre and taking the ball from his hands. Game officials had whistled the play dead when they noticed Gall on the field. Gall then ran 60 yards back toward the south end zone. At least 13 seconds passed from the time he took the ball from Favre and was tackled by security personnel at the 10-yard line.

Brown estimated response time at five seconds.

Security personnel followed their training, he said.

"They are instructed to close in on the subject from various angles to bring closure to the incident," Brown said. "They are not instructed to go out and heavily chase."