Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC) bills itself as the world leader in crowd management and event security. Being a world leader in managing its own workers may be another story.
The behemoth company found itself with one less client earlier this month after the University of Houston informed the media that the school was severing ties with CSC after the post-game incident
Spawning the controversy was a fracas that occurred in the aftermath of a football game between Houston and Temple University, which was captured on video. The film shows CSC employees tackling fans and in some cases, beating them.
Hunter Yurachek, UH’s Vice President for Athletics, was quick to issue the following statement:
“After viewing initial videos of today’s postgame activity, I am extremely disappointed and angered with the actions taken by individuals employed by our security contractor CSC. We are working with the University of Houston police to review today’s activities and will take swift and appropriate action including the termination of our current contract with CSC and any legal action deemed necessary.”
Another official told the media that no decision had been made about possible legal action against the company.
University Police Chief Discusses the incident
University of Houston Chief of Police Ceaser Moore told KHOU that he was “sad” about the incident and the role that CSC’s security team played in it, adding that they were told to back off.
“I was sad and the reason I was sad is because I thought about the chancellor, her vision for the school, the football players and all the hard work they did,” he reportedly said. Being on the field as security “should not allow you or enable you to punch or tackle someone in that particular scenario.”
He added that criminal charges may be forthcoming.
CSC issued a statement noting that it “is aware of the events that occurred following today’s University of Houston football game. Training is provided to CSC employees for responding to such situations. Any actions by CSC personnel that contradict our training, CSC’s other requirements, or the law, are not condoned by CSC and will not be tolerated. We are currently performing an investigation of the events and will take appropriate action based on the outcome of our investigation.”
Crowd Management Expert Weighs In
Dr. Robin Ammon, Interim Chair of the Division of Kinesiology and Sport Science at the University of South Dakota, has been following the crowd management space and what can be done when things get out of hand for decades.
He noted that the “storming” or “rushing” of a field (or basketball court for that matter) “is an example of what we call a crush. A crush is when fans or spectators rush toward something of perceived value (a goal post, a famous athlete/entertainer etc.). The opposite would be a stampede. A stampede occurs when fans rush away from something of perceived danger i.e. someone with a weapon or an approaching storm.
“As a result there are a couple different philosophies pertaining a crush. The first is to keep fans off the field, no matter what. In my previous experiences the NFL has been quite specific about keeping fans off the field. However, many universities perceive this as more of an old school approach. The chance for injury to the individual rushing the field as well as the peer group staff member attempting to prevent their access to the field is high. In addition, as seen on the various video footage, everyone has a cell phone and social media guarantees instant worldwide attention. As a result, the university administrators may want the appearance of keeping fans off the fields but once the flow begins security is to back off and only provide assistance to anyone who is in danger of becoming injured.
“Having said that I believe it all boils down to adequate staff training. The individuals on the field have to know what to do, or what not to do. My only criticism pertaining to the University of Houston incident, and this is based entirely on watching the video footage, is most of the staff don’t seem to have any idea what actions they are to be taking. Some seem to be wandering around aimlessly with no plan of action. On the other extreme, some staff are acting like they are undergoing a tryout for the UFC. To be fair, it has been my experience that this type of brawling mentality is the antithesis of CSC training. What happens at the end of some athletic events is the outsourced security company, CSC in this instance, are asked to show a ‘presence’ on the field. In most cases this is to deter spectators from trying to gain access to the field. Unfortunately a number of these staff have been redeployed from other locations in the facility where they have been performing other duties — performing pat downs at the entrance gates, preventing individuals trying to renter the facility after exiting, checking credentials in VIP areas, patrolling the concourses watching for overly intoxicated fans, helping close down the tailgating area etc. Sometimes due to timing these individuals don’t receive a thorough briefing on their responsibility at their new position. This causes a lack of ‘game plan’ for those on the field.
“The bottom line is sometimes situations like this are very ambiguous. How much of an effort needs to be shown versus allowing fans free access to the field of play. It has been my experience that as soon as a fan is injured on the field, or court, of play their immediate reaction is to sue the security regardless of the policy being utilized. So it becomes a very slippery slope.”
Here are an array of videos from the incident: http://deadspin.com/fake-cops-under-fire-for-beating-shit-out-of-houston-fa-1746471340?utm_campaign=socialflow_deadspin_facebook&utm_source=deadspin_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
