Five break-ins in five weeks isn’t the kind of “record” Tiger Stadium wants to be known for. With recent incidents occurring throughout January and into early February, the question is whether more should be done to deter criminal activity in the stadium.
Trespassing in college football stadiums is not an unusual crime. Stadiums around the country at various universities can typically experience these incidents periodically. However, University of Florida Police Department spokesperson Major Brad Barber said break-ins are not a frequent occurrence at the university’s stadium.
“We’ve encountered individuals on the field, late at night, early in the morning, periodically over the years,” Barber said. “But nothing substantial by any stretch of the imagination.”
One reason for this could be UF’s open stadium policy. Barber said, Ben Hill Griffin Stadium, popularly known as “The Swamp,” is open to the public seven days a week.
Excluding football season, the entire stadium’s bleacher section can be accessed from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. every day. Barber said the open access is greatly used by students and faculty alike.
“…It is used extensively by students, staff, faculty and visitors,” Barber said. “They come and exercise within the stadium itself.”
The field is still off limits to unauthorized personnel during operating hours, Barber said. And after 10 p.m. each day, the stadium is secured. But the stadium isn’t simply locked and left alone. After hours, it is under increased surveillance by university police and athletic personnel.
“…We operate with increased patrols around the stadium. And there are staff from the university athletic association that actually are housed within the stadium,” Barber said. “They live there, in an apartment that’s there in the stadium. And they conduct periodic checks through the evening.”
At the University of Michigan, UMPD spokesperson Diane Brown said the university’s football stadium, Michigan Stadium, encounters frequent break-ins. The incidents have always been present, Brown said, as Michigan Stadium is a high profile venue like Tiger Stadium.
“That hasn’t particularly changed an awful a lot over the years. It still is kind of an activity that occurs fairly frequently,” Brown said.
Similar to Tiger Stadium’s 102,321 holding capacity, UMich’s stadium, nicknamed “The Big House,” holds 107,601 people. Comparable to LSU’s break-in incidents, Brown said most of Michigan Stadium’s trespassing incidents are attempted by students or others trying to sneak in for a quick glance and maybe a picture or two.
“It’s not uncommon for us to have illegal entry where students and others are climbing over the fence to go in and take pictures and stuff,” Brown said. “They’re usually not going in to do any harm.”
Similar to UF’s current stadium policy, UMich’s stadium also used to be open to the public, Brown said. That policy, however, was eventually changed for security purposes.
“It needed to be done,” Brown said. “It’s a high profile location.”
Having an “open” stadium policy, like at UF, isn’t the solution to ending all activity around a university’s football stadium. In 2012, a person climbed a fence at UF’s Ben Hill Griffin Stadium and jumped to his death, according to The Gainesville Sun.
The suicide, along with a rape incident in a stadium bathroom in 2006, raised questions to whether the stadium should remain open, The Gainesville Sun said.
The Gainesville Sun also reported that UFPD Capt. Darren Baxley said that policies involving the stadium were being evaluated, but such incidents can happen anywhere.
“I don’t believe that the stadium is less safe than anywhere else,” Baxley told The Gainesville Sun. “It does present a unique challenge to secure a facility that large and it gives an opportunity for people to do something that isn’t good, but that can be said for a lot of different areas around Gainesville.”
Lou Marciani, director of The National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security at The University of Southern Mississippi, said Tiger Stadium could potentially benefit from what the center calls an “environmental design assessment.” The assessment involves evaluating the exterior security system and proposing what upgrades could be made to deter future trespassers. Marciani said that proper fencing, lighting and signage are among the main areas that a university can focus on to reduce criminal activity at a specific venue.