Notre Dame to Use Metal Detectors for Athletic Games, Big Events

Notre Dame to Use Metal Detectors for Athletic Games, Big Events

Along with adhering to a clear bag policy, football fans going to Notre Dame's football stadium will have to go through metal detectors.

  • By Sherelle Black
  • October 08, 2019

Notre Dame fans may have noticed something different this football season: metal detectors.

In an effort to increase security measures, the university has decided to use metal detectors not only at the football stadium but at other athletic events and big events.

“We’ll have it for all ticketed events in athletics, but there also will be events on campus that will require metal detectors as well," said Dennis Brown, Notre Dame chief spokesperson to WSBT. "For example, the Garth Brooks concert last fall."

Unlike most security processes, those passing through the metal detectors will not have to remove their phones or keys.

“They’re looking for guns, knives, anything that could be used as a weapon,” Mike Seamon, vice president for campus safety and university operations, told The Observer. “I’m not going to go into the technicalities, but it’s a very intelligent system. And so it’s been interesting, the first two games watching people take stuff out and be like, ‘where’s the bucket that I put it?’ And you’re like, ‘no, just keep walking, keep walking at what I call a normal pace.’”

Prior to this season, football fans only had to undergo a bag check.

However, last year the university did decide to implement a clear bag policy as another way to beef up security.

In addition to the metal detectors and the clear bag policy, the university also added two sniffer dogs to be accompanied by police and enlisted the help of law enforcement from several areas— including South Bend, Mishawaka, St. Joseph County and Indiana State Police.

Seamon told The Observer, the university started taking a closer look after a series of large events were hosted at the university within the last year such as concerts and the Liverpool FC soccer match.

“We started looking at this as early as last year at this time,” Seamon said. “There were a couple of things that invited us to get really serious about it. And we had been keeping our eye on that in through the industry, but we got really serious last fall when we hosted Garth Brooks in October. And then we hosted the Winter Classic with the NHL on Jan. 1. And then when we eventually hosted the Liverpool soccer match in July.”

About the Author

Sherelle Black is a Content Editor for the Infrastructure Solutions Group at 1105 Media.

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