Another attack in a theatre - Keeps happening again. Can we do anything?

The death toll is now at least 133 people at a concert venue in Moscow. Every time I'm at a show, watching the crowd file through security and their metal detectors and pat downs and all that...can't help but thinking it isn't going to stop crap, if crap really wants to happen. My understanding is that gunmen came blasting through the front door - nothing was going to hold them back. I don't know what can be done....but it scares me very much. My job, when working back stage, is to provide a safe experience to everyone involved. I constantly run the "what would I do in this situation" through my head - what if there was a fire...a medical emergency...a technical failure, a fight...etc etc etc. I have no idea what could be done to prevent what just happened. I like to believe living in the US we are protected from insanity....but I have little proof of that.

Mostly I'm just venting because I am aware that somewhere in Moscow are a bunch of people who were powerless to protect people.
Everyone just be safe...and don't forget to tell the people you love that you love them.

(um...can't help but notice that my rant had my not-so-nice language changed to more polite words...that is more than a little disturbing...I don't need to be censored, thankyou very much)

Our local arena has lots of "security theater" with pat downs, metal detectors, clear bag policies (and size limits) and those won't do squat when folks with "real weapons" show up and shoot their way in, as was done in Moscow. BTW, most arena and stadium security policies were mandated by the sports leagues (NFL, NBA, NCAA) and to a lesser extent, local authority idea contributions.

You can only do so much. If the policies cover 95% or more of potential threats, then they're worth it. Bad things are going to happen, but we can reduce how often.

On rant cencered...! Remember that this website is founded on helping high school technicians further on their career. Your message of concern was still put thru in worrisome for this and other shootings that have happened in the US.. Not political also as a concept for the website not mentioned. Edited post never a good thing to see, but also at times necessary I would support in rational.

On this topic, I think about this issue every time I see my Daughter at the High School theater as both Marine and Father.

There's only so much you can do to handle a terrorist attack. Theater safety policies, can, at best, give you a framework of what to do if you have a single active shooter. A determined terrorist organization is a completely different animal. You can basically have your LD ready to flip on the lights and your SM or A1 ready to make a quick announcement and maybe get a call into EMS, but not much else if several armed assailants storm your lobby.

Then there's the war in Gaza, which is a direct result of the attack of the attack on Israel's Re'im music festival -- where terrorists showed up in vans, heavily armed, and some even used motorized paragliders to drop into the festival grounds. No bag checks, bouncers, or anything else short of your own private counterterrorism security is going to stop that. There's a reason the Secret Service and other federal agencies protect large sporting and other major entertainment events.

You should take some comfort though in knowing that in the US, a well-organized terrorist attack like the one in Moscow or at Re'im is extraordinarily difficult to orchestrate, finance, arm, plan, deploy, and execute without intelligence agencies catching on. Off the top of my head, I can't even think of anything similar ever happening at an entertainment event here in the US with anything other than a lone gunman. It's a very different circumstance than what a foreign, almost third-world country actively engaged in multiple local wars may encounter. Even then, in Moscow's case, the US had intelligence about the attack in Moscow beforehand and tried to warn them.

I don't want to go full tinfoil hat, but if not for ISIS claiming responsibility, I would also be half-inclined to wonder if the FSB planned the attack on their own people as a false flag against Ukraine and a way to garner sympathy and build up more support for the war on Ukraine. That's the simple reality of Russia -- their government is happy to send their own people into a meat grinder for political influence. Even though ISIS almost certainly is responsible, this attack on the opposite side of the globe exists in a completely different context than in the US. That's not at all to say it can't happen, or that the industry shouldn't keep the possibility in the back of our minds, but I wouldn't let something like this give you any kind of crippling fear. It's statistically unprecedented in the US. A lone gunman is a much more likely scenario -- and even then, the odds of it happening at any particular venue are remarkably remote.

There is a large market amphitheater on the east coast that, after the Vegas shootings, puts two sheriff department sniper teams on the roof of the stagehouse, looking out over the audience and beyond, for every show.
Overkill? or a good "just in case"?

MNicolai said:

in Moscow's case, the US had intelligence about the attack in Moscow beforehand and tried to warn them.

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Wow. They didn't take it seriously, or they just didn't listen? But even so, to your point, I don't think it could've made a difference.

RonaldBeal said:

There is a large market amphitheater on the east coast that, after the Vegas shootings, puts two sheriff department sniper teams on the roof of the stagehouse, looking out over the audience and beyond, for every show.
Overkill? or a good "just in case"?

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It's way more than one....

A similar attack took place in Paris, remember. Not much that could have been done about that, either.

Bataclan, 2015. Eagles of Death Metal were playing.

Cue_547 said:

Wow. They didn't take it seriously, or they just didn't listen? But even so, to your point, I don't think it could've made a difference.

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Maybe they did take it seriously and decided to take advantage of the opportunity to further their own plans. Tinfoil hats are back in fashion

Cue_547 said:

Wow. They didn't take it seriously, or they just didn't listen? But even so, to your point, I don't think it could've made a difference.

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Anyone's guess. Embassy says they didn't receive a warning, but the warning seems to have been pretty well published.

Since the warning was issued a couple/few weeks ago, it's possible they thought it wasn't credible if the terrorists saw the warning and decided to wait until security measures died down and when the "imminent" threat ended up not happening within the day or two they maybe thought it would, security forces may have brushed it off.

And again -- the cynical part of me -- the possibility the Russian gov't didn't take it too seriously because an attack in their capital is an opportunity to blame it on Ukraine and bolster local and regional support for Russian's ongoing invasion -- and in spite of ISIS taking responsibility and the attackers being from Tajikistan, Russia's propaganda machine is locked onto the narrative Ukraine organized the attack.

I've certainly escorted the guys with flak jackets and long black bags up into the catwalks before for shows. I'm not part of any house crew, so that was only for special occasions, usually secret service related. But it definitely happens at least irregularly, if not regularly.

FYI there is an automated filter for foul language. So it’s not necessarily that a moderator censored a post specifically but rather the site itself enforcing the rules that were established.

brucek said:

(um...can't help but notice that my rant had my not-so-nice language changed to more polite words...that is more than a little disturbing...I don't need to be censored, thankyou very much)

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There is an automated filter which switches words for tamer versions. The filter is there so that we can keep CB accessible for students to read in schools. Without it many school districts would block us and tech students would not have access.

gafftaper said:

There is an automated filter which switches words for tamer versions. The filter is there so that we can keep CB accessible for students to read in schools. Without it many school districts would block us and tech students would not have access.

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Yepper, even if the "kids" can out-swear we old timers. I'm so glad I didn't finish my education degree.

The concept of soft or even moderate targets is a difficult issue. Totally separate but in some ways notable to the Russia attack.

I know I in going last minute to a Chicago big show "Lion King", but coming from work I did declared I had a utility knife, but put it's blade in the trash it's blade before monitoring. Security was easy on me in letting me retain the bladeless knife. Steel tipped boots did not help either. I was a risk who should have been scrutinized better. I did send a E-mail about this to the Venu, about them just wanding me and letting me pass. That was a security failure in not further scrutinizing me.

Other security things as a tech person often into venue's un-supervised. Obviously if I were a less "known person" I will have been more supervised at another venue, but at the same time others seemingly lost in first time in the venu were not approaced or challenged on the day before a show - no security at the venu before the event.

Lots of other experiences of security for events, or good experiences of mostly I'm coming to a school or venue and I am thourgly challenged on why I am either there for fork and signed in or otherwise. Security, something to strive for.

gafftaper said:

There is an automated filter which switches words for tamer versions. The filter is there so that we can keep CB accessible for students to read in schools. Without it many school districts would block us and tech students would not have access.

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Wow; that's extra.

Well I am glad the auto filter is there or I wouldn't be able to lurk during the day. Sometimes working for a school system stinks,