Security measures starting to ramp up in Edmonton ahead of Pope Francis’ visit – Edmonton | Globalnews.ca
Where ever the pope goes, thousands of people tend to follow.
Recently installed fences and cameras outside the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton are just one of the many security measures that will be in place for the Pope’s upcoming visit.
“You are going to see a lot of fences, you are going to see a lot of different pathways for people to follow, you are going to have quarantined off sections for those people to be at,” Risk Control President Anthony Kimakowich said.
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Large crowds, road closures and heavy security expected for Pope Francis’ visit to Alberta
Alberta-based Risk Control provides security and security consulting across Canada. Its company president Anthony Kimakowich said protecting the pope is a major operation, similar to protecting the President of the United States or Prime Minister of Canada and has a lot of moving parts.
“He’s going to be traveling with his own security team, they are going to have armoured vehicles they are bringing themselves, you are going to see police escorts, many different law enforcement aspects assisting in these security operations,” Kimakowich said.
RCMP and Edmonton Police Service have not said, exactly how many officers will be at the Pope’s events for safety reasons, but said there will be an increase in police presence.
“We need people to respect the fencing, if there is road barriers in place for vehicles, we need people to respect those things as well,” Edmonton Police Service Supt. Dean Hilton said.
Kimakowich said, in addition to blockades, vetting of guests and likely airspace restrictions, security plans also take into account natural disasters, escapes routes, on site emergencies and any unknowns that may occur.
“While many of the people are devout followers that are coming to see and that want to be in his presence, there is that potential that some of those people that are coming want to create a protest or they want to disrupt the event or disrupt his activities that day,” Kimakowich said
Kimakowich said an operation of this size could likely see upwards of 100 security professionals and cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
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