There will be an increase in security measures, say police, for the World Series at Rogers Centre.Sammy Kogan/The Globe and Mail
The return of the World Series to Toronto on Friday will be met with increased security measures, say police, who are preparing to counter a complex array of threats that security experts say could include terror attacks, riots or drones.
Toronto Police Chief Superintendent Frank Barredo, the force’s head of public safety operations, said he is working with police forces from across the Toronto area to enforce drone no-fly zones and consider some road closings. He also said authorities are putting physical barriers outside the Rogers Centre and deploying more officers in and around the stadium.
“As the games have moved into the World Series, the posture has risen with it, in the sense that there’s a little bit more security, a little bit more ratcheting up,” Chief Supt. Barredo said in an interview.
“You can imagine that we would have VIP-type-protected people that would be coming, politicians, dignitaries and such,” he said. “There, we would co-ordinate with some of those federal partners − or even international partners.”
The stadium, which was known as the SkyDome when it opened in 1989, has never been the site of a deadly security breach despite holding more than 100 sports and entertainment events a year. “Rogers Centre has robust security measures both inside and outside of the ballpark,” Blue Jays spokesperson Madeleine Davidson said.
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However, since the early 1990s, when the Toronto Blue Jays last played in the World Series, a global rise in terrorist attacks and mass shootings have made heightened security at large sporting events more standard.
“Violent extremists have at times targeted special events, particularly those associated with religious or social causes − but also, in some cases, sporting events,” said Magali Hébert, a spokesperson for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. “An attack by a lone actor targeting a special event in Canada remains a realistic possibility.”
Ms. Hébert would not disclose whether CSIS is assessing any threats to the World Series but said the intelligence agency always works closely with police to identify security risks.
The 2013 Boston Marathon bombings and the 2017 suicide-bomber strike at an Ariana Grande show in Manchester, England, stadium are among the worst-case examples of large-scale attacks, according to terrorism expert Gina Ligon, who recently testified at a U.S. congressional hearing on threats to international sporting events.
“You’ve got all of these different threats, so it’s just really difficult for law enforcement to predict,” said Prof. Ligon, who directs a terrorism research centre at the University of Nebraska in Omaha.
She said technologies such as drones are among the emerging risks.
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Early this month, Toronto police announced they had charged several people with unlawfully flying drones. New technology deployed at the Rogers Centre was used to zero in on rogue operators among the sea of Blue Jays fans watching the American League Championship Series against the Seattle Mariners.
“They were not malevolent incidents … but these were nevertheless matters that had to be addressed,” Chief Supt. Barredo said. “You can’t have drones flying over top of large crowds of people, in particular around the Rogers Centre.”
Last year, Toronto police spent $2-million on additional, premium pay for police working to shore up the security at a series of Taylor Swift concerts in the Rogers Centre. The World Series is unfolding while the city prepares for another security challenge − holding games for next summer’s FIFA World Cup.
York University professor Jack Rozdilsky, a specialist in disaster management, said all this planning should help the World Series go smoothly.
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But then again, he said, until relatively recently, the Blue Jays were considered a long shot to close out the Major League Baseball season.
“There was very little lead time for this large event to take place − which is an issue,” Prof. Rozdilsky said. “We have an equivalent of a Taylor Swift concert coming into town and she had concerts that had months of preparation and planning.”
If the Jays win, it could lead to additional security challenges. When the Toronto Raptors won the 2019 NBA championship, hundreds of thousands of people gathered downtown for a raucous victory assembly. During the event, four people were wounded in a shooting.
Losing a championship series also carries risks. Violent street chaos erupted in Vancouver in 2011 after the Canucks lost Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. Police in that city could not contain a throng who rioted and looted, causing millions of dollars in damage.
Authorities gathered footage, however, so they could later pursue charges.
“Some crowd dynamics just make you do a dumb thing,” Jim Chu, who was in charge of the city’s police force in 2011, said in an interview this week.
“Tell the young people don’t do stupid things, because it will ruin your life.”