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Michael Adkison\/Houston Public Media<\/p>\n
Houston Mayor John Whitmire speaks alongside members of his administration and other officials ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n
Days out from the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Houston Mayor John Whitmire and law enforcement officials alluded to the use of surveillance drones throughout the international soccer tournament.<\/p>\n
Repeatedly, officials stated that they weren’t able to share details about the use of the drones.<\/p>\n
“We have extra training, we have extra equipment, that’s probably as far as I’m going to go with that,” said Larry Satterwhite, director of the city’s Public Safety and Homeland Security office. “But we are definitely leaning into everything trying to ensure a safe event. You know, the world’s changing, and we have to change with it.”<\/p>\n
Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n A Houston Public Media reporter asked Satterwhite about examples of the usage of such drones, including what they would be monitoring. He noted only that “some of [the usage] would be just like, \u2018Yeah, I understand that right away,’ and others maybe not.”<\/p>\n Public safety officials from across the city say Houston, which is hosting seven World Cup matches from June 14 to July 4, is prepared to handle and staff the tournament<\/a> \u2014 as well as monitoring the everyday needs of Houstonians at the same time.<\/p>\n “We’re very prepared,” Houston Police Chief Noe Diaz said Tuesday. “We’re over-prepared.”<\/p>\n RELATED: Houston police chief \u2018not at all\u2019 concerned about ICE presence or immigration raids at World Cup<\/a><\/p>\n During a news conference Tuesday morning, officials from across the city’s public safety frontline attested to much of the city’s preparations.<\/p>\n “Public safety was our highest priority before FIFA, during FIFA, and it\u2019ll be after FIFA,” Whitmire said. “But it\u2019s much more than just law and order. It\u2019s public health, it\u2019s transportation, it\u2019s collaboration with our state partners.”<\/p>\n Whitmire, flanked by representatives from his administration, state and federal law enforcement agencies, and affiliates of the World Cup host committee in Houston, said preparations for the tournament have been going on for at least the last two years.<\/p>\n “The matches will occur on the fields, but the legacy for this event will be the collaboration, the preparedness that we have,” Diaz said.<\/p>\n The Houston Police Department, which will be the lead law enforcement agency through the tournament, will be fully staffed for the entirety of the World Cup, Diaz said.<\/p>\n Asked if the longevity of the tournament \u2014 three weeks separate Houston’s first match on June 14 from its seventh and final match on July 4 \u2014 is an inhibiting factor to law enforcement, Diaz said that wasn’t a concern.<\/p>\n “The strain happens to us every day,” he said. “We\u2019re tough people here at the police department. We\u2019re real good at the hard things. So, we\u2019re focused on making sure that everyone is safe. … We’re always in an operational capacity.”<\/p>\n RELATED: FIFA Fan Festival premium tickets are on sale. Here\u2019s what to expect from the otherwise free event<\/a><\/p>\n The Houston Fire Department, too, said it plans to be fully staffed in order to respond both to the World Cup as well as the daily calls Houstonians make.<\/p>\n “All hands on deck from the fire side, along with all the stakeholders that we’ve had,” Houston Fire Chief Thomas Mu\u00f1oz said Tuesday. “Covering every aspect of EMS and fire services along with, as I mentioned before, our partners that are going to be working with us side by side to ensure a safe event.”<\/p>\n Mu\u00f1oz noted the tournament will be taking place during the early stages of hurricane season<\/a>; as well as noting that Houston’s final match will take place on July 4, the same afternoon as Freedom Over Texas, the annual July 4 celebration in Houston<\/a>, headlined this year by Keith Urban.<\/p>\n Houston will also be the base camp for the Democratic Republic of Congo’s soccer team<\/a>. In their home country, an outbreak of Ebola has prompted U.S. travel restrictions and international scrutiny, but local officials say they are not concerned about the risk of Ebola<\/a> in the city.<\/p>\n Instead, Houston Health Department Director Dr. Theresa Tran stated the biggest concerns for the World Cup are heat-related illnesses, food-borne illnesses and vaccine-preventable diseases.<\/p>\n