Are There Snipers at Sporting Events?

Are There Snipers at Sporting Events?

Two-Minute Warning, released in 1976, depicted an evil sniper as setting up their nest at an event similar to Super Bowl and opening fire randomly into crowds he caused panicked stampedes for. While that does not necessarily happen in real life, there are several methods snipers use in shooting, making it essential for sports fans to know what signs indicate they may be vulnerable.

Anytime you attend a football game – from your local stadium to the Super Bowl itself – expect a heavy police presence and sniper teams trained to detect suspicious activity. They will usually remain hidden and camouflaged within their surroundings to gain advantage from traffic, crowds, or nearby highways as possible targets of attack. Snipers trained to detect such activity often deploy at events where there’s an elevated risk of terrorist attack; such venues might include large rocks, buildings or thick trees offering natural cover as potential hiding places snipers may take advantage of.

Professional snipers are law enforcement officers with years of experience who have undergone a rigorous training program, from classroom work and non-kinetic skills development, through simulation scenarios. It requires consistent firing into targets; with training and experience that enables quick responses when threats emerge in public places.

Military training companies typically provide this kind of tactical instruction, and it’s now accessible for law enforcement through tactical training companies such as TACFlow Academy’s Police Sniper Response to a Public Venue (PSRPV) course, for example, offers proactive overwatch protection at public locations that could become the targets of terrorist acts.

The PSRPV course can be found across the United States in venues as varied as NFL stadiums and college arenas, taught by experienced police snipers in a crawl, walk, run sequence that mimics physical conditioning necessary for active shooter response in public venues. Students live fire precision rifles into specially constructed rifle traps in indoor/outdoor training facilities for live firing precision rifles into purpose built rifle traps.

Training officers for proactive protection of high profile public events that may present potential terrorist risks is at the core of this training course, such as Dallas Cowboys stadium which features specially-built sniper nests. Offered across various venues across the nation and designed to build confidence among students that they have the ability to stop terrorist acts at public places – they will learn proactive overwatch, counter shooting techniques and person borne or vehicle borne improvised explosive devices (PBIED/VBIEDs). It typically runs during summer at locations that see high attendance from spectators.