GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – If you drove past Lambeau Field Tuesday, you may have seen a plethora of first responders and emergency vehicles around the stadium.
It was all part of a simulated training exercise held in preparation for the upcoming Packers season and the 2025 NFL Draft, which will take place in Green Bay.
“Today we did a practical exercise, which is just kind of a step above a table top and below a full exercise with all of the people that we would normally having working at a stadium event,” explained Chris Davis, chief of the Green Bay Police Department (GBPD).
“The idea was just to kind of work through a scenario, and we used a Packers game as our scenario. And then just an incident that unfolds during a Packers game — how we would respond to it, how we would manage the resources, what the priorities would be,” Davis continued.
With the NFL Draft coming to Titletown next spring, Davis said exercises like these will help first responders keep the event safe and secure for all guests.
“The NFL Draft event is very different from a Packers game, but it’s a lot of the same skills. When there’s an incident that happens at a public event, it’s all about resource identification and prioritizing where the first resources need to go to start working through the problem.”
Numerous agencies participated in Tuesday’s training, including GBPD, the Green Bay Metro Fire Department, Ashwaubenon Public Safety, the Brown County Sheriff’s Office, Wisconsin State Patrol, the FBI and individuals with the Packers and the NFL.
Davis said this multi-agency collaboration is a key piece of the puzzle.
“If you’re trying to do it all yourself, you’ll miss something and you’ll make mistakes. And so having exercises like this just give us a chance — with a little bit of pressure, but not the kind of pressure you have in a real event — to work through those problems together and that communication, obviously, is a critical piece of that.”
Obviously we don’t want anything bad to happen, but if the bad thing ever did happen, we’re prepared.
Davis said GBPD is still working with the NFL to determine how many law enforcement officers will be needed to work the Draft. He said it will depend on the event’s final footprint.
Comments