Drones to beef up security at Coachella, organizers wary of Las Vegas like attack
Precaution is better than cure but when it comes to safety, its always about precaution and Coachella knows how to do it best.
It has been announced that Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival will have bolstered security and drones in the wake of attacks such as the Las Vegas massacre and the Manchester stadium bombing, officials announced Wednesday.
The president and CEO of Goldenvoice, the company that organizes the event, Paul Tollett, said the show will have increased security because more people are expected to attend this year, the Desert Sun reported.
An estimate of 250,000 people are expected to gather at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, Calif. on April 13 to 15 and April 20 to 22 for the popular concert, Indio police said.
“It’s just a part of safety,” Tollett said. “There are more people at the show, so, it’s a higher profile.”
Grammy winners including Eminem, The Weeknd and Beyoncé are slated to headline the show so the Indio police spokesman Sgt. Dan Marshall told the newspaper that extra precautions are being taken to ensure safety.
Singer Beyonce performs with her sister Solange onstage during day 2 of the 2014 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on April 12, 2014 in Indio, California. (Photo by Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella)
“Our number one priority is public safety,” Marshall said. “We want people to know that they’re safe. We want people to know that we are well planned.”
The drones will be also be used to determine traffic problems and other “issues that pop up.”
“We don’t know if this is the type of event that lends itself to [drones],” Marshall said. “We have to follow all rules. We can’t over-fly cars, we can’t over-fly crowds, we can’t do any of that stuff unless we deem that it’s a public safety issue. Then we could make that happen,” said Marshall.
“[But,] let’s say we’re getting reports that there’s a lot of traffic at an intersection and the drone goes to look at that intersection. It can’t fly down the middle of the street. It has to stay in a route where it’s not over-flying homes or people or anything like that,” he added.
The ramping up of the security and drones comes after the deadly 2017 attacks in Las Vegas and the bombing during a concert in Manchester, United Kingdom.
On October 1, last year, 58 people were killed when gunman Stephen Paddock fired a stream of bullets from his suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino into a crowd of concert goers at the Route 91 Harvest musical festival in Las Vegas.
And on May 22, a bombing at an Ariana Grande concert at Manchester Arena left 23 people killed, including the suicide bomber.
This time the concert-goers will also be given a wristband with a chip that helps “count the number of festival goers and identify when they come in and out of different parts of the fields.”
“Having a plan for anticipation of troubles,” Tollett said. “It’s just an ongoing, 365-day thing for us. Safety.”