For the 2024 T20 World Cup, the safety at Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York has been stepped up. From June 3 to June 12, the Nassau County Police Department is overseeing a comprehensive operation to ensure that games held at the Long Island ground are safe.
The venue will have its first international game featuring Sri Lanka and South Africa on Monday with snipers placed around it secretly by security forces.
Also, there will be eight matches of the T20 spectacle including India versus Pakistan which is scheduled for June 9th at Eisenhower Park. SWAT teams equipped with specialist snipers and undercover police officers inside the ground are some of the measures put in place due to threats from pro-ISIS factions.
In addition, four drop-in pitches are continuously under surveillance as officers from narcotics department who have temporarily been assigned other duties make sure they’re not tampered with.
To get ready for this event Nassau’s police department has collaborated with several organizations among them being Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and New York Police Department (NYPD).
This combination aims at making sure that all participants and attendees remain safe throughout their time in this tournament.
According to a statement made by International Cricket Council “The safety and security of everyone at the event is our number one priority and we have a comprehensive and robust security plan in place”. This was said to BBC Sports by ICC representatives
“In our host nations we work closely together with authorities monitor and evaluate risks identified towards our event in relation to global landscape,” it says.
On match days, an exclusion zone will be established around park land near stadium so that potential drone attack can be minimized if not avoided altogether by general public.
Before entering into a stadium spectators should expect search exercises alongside going through scanning machines comparable to those found both inside airports since where it might take place every bag must be checked thoroughly too though airport’s standards prevail.
According to Bruce Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, the level of security will be comparable to that of the Super Bowl, but “on steroids,” as he mentioned in a statement last week.
