ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Over 65,000 hip-hop fans are expected to pack Camping World Stadium each day this weekend as the Rolling Loud Festival takes over Orlando.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s just the latest major event to come to Orlando, and the Orlando Police Department says they\u2019re ready.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are bringing in a couple hundred officers who are dedicated to this event. So, they\u2019ll be working inside of the stadium, around the stadium, and you\u2019ll see them from the time you park your car if you park downtown,\u201d said OPD Chief Eric Smith. \u201cAnd if you walk down, they\u2019ll assist you to get into the stadium, and we\u2019re there to keep everyone safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is the first time this festival will take center stage in The City Beautiful, bringing with it fans and foot traffic for local businesses.<\/p>\n
Smith says that despite his department\u2019s experience with big events, this one is unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything else you see in the city, you\u2019ve seen Pro Bowls, you\u2019ve seen big time basketball games, you\u2019ve seen big soccer matches and you\u2019ve seen Electric Daisy Carnival (EDC), which is a big festival,\u201d Smith explained. \u201cBut we\u2019ve hosted those before. This is a onetime thing, at least for this year, so we don\u2019t know what to expect.\u201d<\/p>\n
A special event zone designated for the festival allows for increased fines and other enforcement mechanisms along roads like Orange Blossom Trail, Colonial Drive and John Young Parkway around the stadium.<\/p>\n
Smith says it will enable law enforcement a chance to better control traffic and keep people safe.<\/p>\n
With so many people, Chanel Benjamin, who traveled from Brevard County, says she knows safety is of the utmost importance.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know the police are really going to be doing their jobs, and they\u2019re really going to be doing their due diligence. There\u2019s going to be a lot of people that are going to be trying to avoid that regardless of the situation, especially being that there\u2019s going to be a lot of tourists,\u201d Benjamin said. \u201cAnd they don\u2019t understand that Orlando police don\u2019t play that. So, wherever you\u2019re parked incorrectly, you\u2019re going to get towed. So, don\u2019t park on the streets and don\u2019t park on any no parking zones.\u201d<\/p>\n
While OPD will be ready to take action if needed, Smith hopes the phrase \u201cspecial event zone\u201d is the last thing on anyone\u2019s mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs always, as a police department, my biggest goal is for nothing to happen and for everybody to have a fun and safe weekend,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n
Smith is also reminding people to stay hydrated in the hot weather and keep a calm and patient head to avoid any conflicts.<\/p>\n
The special event zone will stay in effect until Monday at 8 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 Over 65,000 hip-hop fans are expected to pack Camping World Stadium each day this weekend…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2967,14105,115,1335,139,141,140,277,6390,835],"class_list":["post-262963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-app-public-safety","tag-brandon-spencer","tag-news","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-public-safety","tag-topic-latest-public-safety-crime-stories","tag-vod"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}