Arlington Public Safety Leaders Prepare for FIFA World Cup 2026™

In the latest episode of Arlington Welcomes the World, leaders from the Arlington Police Department and Arlington Fire Department discussed how they are preparing for one of the largest sporting events in the world while maintaining normal service levels for the community.

Transcript

0:00

As Arlington prepares to welcome the world for the FIFA World Cup 2026, public safety remains a top priority. I'm Jay Warren, and in this episode of Arlington Welcomes the World, we're hearing from Arlington's police and fire chiefs about how the city is preparing to keep residents and visitors safe during one of the largest sporting events in the entire world. Joining us now is Leo Daniels, the Deputy Chief of the Arlington Police Department, to discuss how APD is preparing to keep residents and visitors safe during the FIFA World Cup 2026. And Leo, appreciate you being here today with us. Thank you for having me. I know you've got a lot of other things you could be doing because there's a lot happening as we prepare for the World Cup to come here. But talk just a little bit about how you all are addressing staffing for this massive event that's coming to Arlington. Well, like everyone, we've been planning for this event for years. Um and so we started looking at staffing numbers um well over 18 months ago, and every six months since. So we are staffed up, we are ready to go. The good thing is the majority of the people who are working the stadium are working in a part-time capacity, which means they are not full-time on duty with the police department, so we have separate staffs completely. So we have our folks who are gonna be ready to work the streets, and then we have a different team who are gonna be working the stadium and all of the events. So how is this because you guys are used to hosting major events? Uh I mean, we have for more than a decade now out in the entertainment industry. How does this different and how do you prepare for it in a different way? Or is it is it just like every other major event that we have? Well, it is different, and it is not just like every other major event. Now, we've had very high profile, high number events with 70, 80,000, up to 100,000 um people coming to the stadium. This is different just in the people who will be coming. First of all, everyone, a lot of the people are gonna be new to Texas, new to Cowboys Stadium. Um but also really the passion that we're talking about, not just your team passion or your city passion, we're talking about your country passion. And so we know that the fans are gonna be coming in, we're expecting them to be happy, we're expecting them to be excited, we're not expecting to have a lot of problems, but we are expecting people to just it's an unknown, so we have to be prepared for that. Yeah. So if you are a resident um who got a ticket to go out to one of the games, um what would you expect to see in terms of the police presence if you were out there in the entertainment district? You're gonna see a lot of police presence, um, not just for the safety aspect of it, but because this is a commuter um community safe city. Um we want visitors to come in, we want people to understand what's going on around. So we're gonna have people helping out. We're gonna have a lot of city employees as well as police working in conjunction with police employees. Um we have several hundred employees for every uh major event, every major game. So we're gonna see that. Um we're going to restrict the area a little bit more than we normally would because there's so many activities going on with FIFA coming. Um and other than that, though, you will just see that normal large presence that you always see at a major event. I think some residents, when they hear that, think, well, wait a minute, all that's being invested out there during a game, what's gonna happen on my streets in my neighborhood where I'm gonna be, maybe watching the game on TV. Um what will that presence in the neighborhoods be like on those game days? Legitimate concern. And if there's no problems in your neighborhood, nothing should be different. You should have the same, you should expect the same level of service you always have from the Arlington Police Department. Now we will have some additional folks staffed up just in case. Um so we'll have different groups and we'll evaluate how that looks. But as far as who's working the streets, who's working the different sides of town, those staffing numbers are going to be exactly as they would any other time. And one of the ways you're able to do that is all the partnerships that you all have. I know local police, you're bringing in part-time folks, but also your partnerships at the state and federal level. So this is a this is a big effort going into this, right? This is a huge effort, and we have been very fortunate to have our partners coming early and often from all of our federal partners. Um our state, Texas State Police, DPS has a huge contingency that's going to be here as well. Um, we have over 70 local agencies who are we have relationships with who in some capacity may be working with us. So we are really excited about that. And and again, those partnerships have been established a long time ago. As you mentioned before, we've been doing events out here for you know well over a decade, and we have a lot of those partnerships in place, and um we're we're leaning on them heavy right now. So policing changes through the years. This is a question I can't imagine I would have asked a decade ago. But let's talk about drones, something you have to consider now, and what restrictions are gonna be in place uh during the games for drones. Well, we understand drones are everywhere. Um we use them, citizens use them, everyone, they're everywhere. What people need to be aware though is this is not a place to use drones during the matches. Um there will be a flight restriction, a federal um flight restriction that's gonna be in place three hours before, three hours after every match. Um so just leave your drones at home, you know. Um but there will be those restrictions out there, and if we have to, we will enforce those. But three hours before, three hours after. Very good. Well, so what's your biggest safety message for both visitors and residents as we head into the this nine Super Bowls coming to Arlington? The biggest safety message uh in in large part is the same. Be aware of your surroundings, um, take care of those around you, make sure that you have plans to get in and out. Um, give yourself some more time. You know, you best we have plans for contingencies for traffic and everything like that, but it's gonna be a little slow, particularly early, because like we said, this is a new crowd. So just be aware, um, have fun, um, don't overindulge, you know, all the normal things, but I think everyone's gonna have a great time. That's wonderful. Well, we appreciate you being here today and really appreciate the entire team and all the hard work you're putting into making sure this is a safe event. Thank you. Thank you, Leo. A lot of times when SWAT teams practice, they practice independently. This is the one training that we've had multiple agencies come in and we get to see each other's tactics, get to work with each other, get to see how other teams operate. So that is part of our preparation of we've gotten over 2,500 participants, over 85 different agencies participating in this, and um basically it's a complex coordinated currency technique where it's forcing departments like Arlington to utilize and team up with surrounding departments that we don't normally work with. The citizens of Burlington are gonna be safe for FIFA, and all of the training that we're doing today and in preparation for FEFOM is going to prepare us for that. This training is so critical for those big events. Um, realistically, you never know when it's gonna happen, right? But if it's happening to your neighbors to the north and south and you normally rely on them and you can't, it's real important that we take advantage of partnering with these other departments, training with them, building those relationships because the Metroplex is just getting busier. Arlington is getting way busier um with all of the special events that are coming in and out. Now we're joined by Division Chief John Padilla with the Arlington Fire Department to talk about emergency preparedness, response planning, and how the department is preparing for the large crowds that are expected during the FIFA World Cup 2026. And let's start with that question, John. We appreciate you being here and tell us how you're getting prepared. Yeah, so this is quite an extraordinary event, you know, kind of a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, you know, for the city of Arlington to host such uh magnificent uh event such as the World Cup. And so for the staffing for the Arlington Fire Department, we've we've expanded our coverage uh to capture uh our public safety efforts for the entertainment district because we know we're gonna have an abundance of international attendees, local visitors, you know, in the district. So we want to make sure that our posture uh helps support, you know, the increase in pedestrian traffic throughout the entertainment district. Yeah. It strikes me as just this daunting task of how do you get prepared for something this big? And it's not just one game. You gotta get prepared, and then it may be the next day or a couple days later, here's another game. Yeah, here's another game. Like, how do you get prepared for that? Yeah, so you know, for the past two years, we've been planning for this. And what's great is that our our unified posture with our partners in the police department and then our state and federal assets, you know, just this coordinated effort to understand what to expect uh from the crowd sizes and the their reactions with their teams and how they follow them, and to to make sure that we get in front of it, you know, the most appropriate way to keep everyone safe and secure, you know, throughout the tournament. Yeah. We know the the police side, we just talked a little bit about how maybe federal partners like the FBI or Secret Service or other in you know, federal law enforcement agencies that people have heard of in the past working. What's that at the fire department level and the emergency management level that you deal with? Yeah, so for us, when we talk about all the alphabets, you know, the FBI, the CST, the DHS, is that we've we've partnered with them to help expand our specialty missions, you know, that deal with EOD, hazmat, and life safety. And so having our those federal state uh partners embedded with our uh our our planning efforts, you know, and our teams, you know, allows us to have a broader reach uh to expand those types of services, you know, from a public safety standpoint, you know, to cast that that larger, wider safety net around the entertainment district. Yeah. So I know um people are excited to have the game here, and they're excited that we're gonna be able to show off how we host an event here in Arlington in a world-class way. Um but at the same time, I know response times for you all in particular is really important. You you count on those whether it's a fire response or an EMS response. How how, if all, will those be impacted during the game days? So for for when we're talking about, you know, the stadium, the secure perimeter in the entertainment district is we've pre-positioned units uh around the entertainment district, you know, to have more of a coverage that is dedicated strictly to the tournament and its posture. Um, at no point, you know, will we be uh pulling in 911 resources because we recognize we have two different uh audiences, you know, we have our local community that we have to protect, and then we have the the uh attendees for the for the World Cup tournament. And so by expanding our coverage uh throughout the different geographical areas uh in in the area around the stadium, we'll be able to capture any type of medical emergency swiftly uh so that there's no delay in coverage. And it's an international event. There may be some people visiting here from places that are really hot, hotter than Texas, but some people may be coming here and experiencing heat that they've never experienced before. So, what preparations are you putting into place to help folks kind of deal with that Texas heat in the middle of the summer? Yeah, so obviously it starts with uh messaging, and you know, we want our people to uh appropriately hydrate and all that stuff. But as far as like the heat mitigation strategy, is we have resources that are pre-positioned throughout the entertainment district, uh, so that as people like travel north, south, east, west to uh their destinations locally, that we have areas uh that will provide cooling uh areas, you know, heat mitigation strategies, you know, teams stationed throughout the entertainment district to help, you know, offer up, you know, solutions, you know, proper hydration solutions, you know, to just ease some of that stress from the heat. So let's dive a little bit deeper on that one issue of kind of the hydration. You're gonna have support stations out in the area for but that's really for people in need, right? Yes. So as as we we see the pedestrian traffic flow coming and going throughout the entertainment district, is these support units are designed for emergency care. So, you know, if someone is in need and they need uh further evaluation, then it's a secure area that we can bring them into and our response teams can uh kind of uh further evaluate the patients. Uh and then if they need transport, then we can transport out of those support units, or we can treat and release depending on the condition of the patient. And you mentioned your message there, that's a very specific one on heat, and we want people to be careful there. But what's your overall kind of final safety message that you would provide to visitors in particular? We want people to stay hydrated and don't wait until the day of the event. It's like you should be preloading those uh those uh hydration supplements uh well in advance, dress appropriately, uh follow the messaging that is being pushed out through the uh FIFA World Cup app and through City of Arlington messaging resources and to expect crowds, expect wait times, because there's going to be uh quite a large number amount of people that we know, and so maneuving maneuvering around, you know, on foot, you know, is going to expand a little bit of energy. So it's like if you're well prepared in advance, you know, then it should eliminate some of the uh heat heat issues. Yeah, and keep in mind a lot of those wait times are gonna be outside, not inside. Yes, yeah, yes. Those uh, you know, once for those ticketed guests, you know, obviously when they get into the stadium, they'll have the enjoyment of the air-conditioned climate. But for those outside, we've made sure to prep our resources, you know, to take care of those needs too. Very good. Well, we appreciate all of your hard work and then the entire team's hard work. So please tell them thank you for us and good luck as we head into the World Cup. Absolutely. Thank you for having me. All right, well, thanks, Chief. We appreciate that. And remember for the latest updates, information, and what to expect during the World Cup, you can visit Arlington TX.govslash World Cup. Thanks for tuning in, and we'll see you next time.