Notre Dame stadium evacuations affects local law enforcement
Posted: Sep 4, 2011 2:48 AM EDT | Updated: Nov 6, 2014 10:09 AM EDT
Notre Dame, Ind. - Notre Dame put several local police agencies in charge of security at tonight's game, but with the weather delay..it has caused law enforcement to make some major adjustments so they can get officers back to patrolling our streets.
Police told me the plan was for their over-night officers to work the game before going on shift tonight.
However, with the all the delays, it's keeping those officers from reporting for duty on time, which is why some officers may be forced to work over-time.
Notre Dame privately contracted the officers at tonight's game, which means tonight's evacuation is now costing the City of South Bend, and possibly other local government agencies, money as they work to get those police officers' shifts covered.
Notre Dame encountered several issues today while they dealt with the evacuation of the stadium, issues Notre Dame spokesman Dennis Brown says were the first of their kind. "It's an unusual circumstance. It's the first time we've ever had to evacuate the stadium," says Brown.
As everyone waited for Mother Nature to take its course, Police were busy making sure they would have enough officers still patrolling the streets.
"Some folks are going to have to work a little bit more, but everyone is going to be fully staffed as we head to the post game," says Brown.
In order to do that, local police agencies asked on-duty officers to stay late and work over-time until other officers were done working security at the game.
But all officials agree that ensuring the safety of everyone at the game is well worth the amount of money this weather delay is now going to cost the city.
"Our primary concern was safety. The safety of our players, fan, officials. So, we played it as cautiously as we could."
With the safety of our community their biggest concern, officials were more than prepared for the dangerous storms that tore through Michana today.
"We were fully prepared. We go through a variety of emergency exercises throughout the year and while we have never had to evacuate the stadium before, it went very smoothly," says Brown.