KANSAS CITY, Mo. — It's only a few days until what could be the biggest party for Chiefs fans in Kansas City, Missouri, in the past 50 years.
Accordingly, the city’s police department is planning ahead to make sure everyone is safe before, during and after the Super Bowl.
Sgt. Jake Becchina said KCPD will have dozens, if not more than 100, extra officers on duty Sunday. They will include patrol officers, traffic officers targeting drunk drivers, and tactical squads.
"In addition to having a full complement of patrol officers, there will be full staffing within all the patrol divisions, as well as many members of our Special Operations Division," Becchina said. "Our Traffic Division, they'll be assigned in and around the entertainment districts, to be able to respond to what we anticipate to be large crowds in those areas."
The police department expects large crowds to gather at entertainment areas like Westport and the Power and Light District.
Becchina said he’s optimistic Chiefs fans will celebrate responsibly, but added visibility is important in maintaining peace on game day.
“We want people to see the police cars and feel safe and feel like this is a safe place to be and that there won’t be any major crime issues, so that’s by design,” he explained.
Becchina stressed that officers are well-trained and prepared for situations like this. He said officers are always on-call to help in large-scale events, but Sunday, they’ll be on-duty.
"We can respond to any civil disturbance. We have equipment, highly trained officers," Becchina said. "Those are some of the officers that will be working Sunday night, so any kind of large-scale disturbance of that variety, we can absolutely be ready to respond."
All officers have FM radios in their squad cars, so they’ll at least be able to listen to the Super Bowl during their shift Sunday.
