World Cup watchSecurity a work in progress at World Cup venues
Outside the venues, security has been a constant concern for many World Cup participants, and several foreign journalists have been robbed of their money and gear; most teams in the tournament — and some media organizations — have their own security personnel; the big worry is about lax security at the stadiums in which games are played; reporters say security personnel is too lax, waving people through without inspection even if the buzzer on the metal detector sounds; at the Olympic Games in Beijing, and Winter Olympics in Vancouver, credentials were electronically scanned every time one entered an official venue, while at this World Cup there is no such scanning
Someone walks through a metal detector and the buzzer sounds. Smiling guards wave him forward without making him empty his pockets or even explain why the alarm might have gone off.
This scene, unthinkable at an airport terminal, has been repeated many times at several stadiums in the first days of the World Cup. With the attention of billions of soccer fans, the month-long event hosted by South Africa could be a tempting target for terrorists.
AP reports that the laid-back security treatment at stadiums and the main media center appears to be reserved mostly for credentialed visitors such as journalists and VIPs. Bag searches are often cursory or nonexistent, and credentials often are not closely examined. Horst Schmidt, a senior FIFA security expert who is an adviser to the World Cup organizers, expressed confidence that regular fans were being rigorously screened, but said it was possible that people with credentials were treated with more deference.
“Maybe it’s more relaxed,” he said. “But there are strict orders… They checked my accreditation. They looked into my face to compare with the photograph.”
Thus far, no serious security problems have been reported at the venues during matches — fans have been exuberant and mostly well-behaved. Police say they are pleased, and FIFA — while acknowledging widespread inexperience among the venue screeners — is confident there will be steady improvement as the tournament progresses.
“This was the first time they were facing this amount of people getting in,” Schmidt said. “It takes some time to make them aware and familiar with the situation.”
Nevertheless, in a post-9/11 era when high security is the norm — and in a time when assassins posing as journalists have succeeded in killing public figures — security is visibly more porous than at other modern multinational events, including recent Olympic Games.
AP reports that journalists with the AP and other organizations have repeatedly encountered lax security. One AP editor has set off metal detectors several times without so much as a bag check. Another who misplaced his credential got into the media center without even being asked to show it. A photographer entering the Port Elizabeth stadium said guards barely glanced at the gear in her case, which included cables and radio transmitters.
At the stadium in Durban, an AP reporter wandered by mistake into the supposedly off-limits presidential section, observing crisp white tablecloths and wine glasses at the ready, but unquestioned by private
