Tour de France Organizers Increase Security with Additional Officers, Bomb Dogs
The world’s largest sporting event sees a heightened sense of security.
The Tour de France is the world’s largest sporting event, with 23 days of competitions covering around 3,500 kilometers. Organizers have paid attention to the current events around the world and are concerned the event could be a target for potential terrorist attacks. Because of, this the cycling race has seen an extensive increase in security.
After the terrorist attacks in London, Berlin, Paris and even the Nice attack nearly a year ago during the Tour on the Promenade de Anglais that killed 86 people, the organizers decided to take numerous steps to protect the racers and spectators at the event.
Pierre=Yves Thouault, the assistant Tour director in charge of security, told Business Insider that the security of the Tour is managed by the French government and the interior minister connects with them on procedures and protocol.
Twenty-three thousand police officers and gendarmerie were scheduled to attend the entire event. Foreign-state forces, the Republican Guard, and the mission police will also be visible during the days of the Tour.
The agencies will be split into two different camps – the ones on the ground and the ones in the air. While most security officials will be on the ground looking for signs of suspicious activity, there will be police in the air, following the race by helicopter.
Organizers have added CCTV cameras to surveil the most populated areas from mobile command centers as well as brought in bomb dogs and increased the amount of check points needed to get into the race areas.
Despite the fact France still remains in a state of emergency, the Tour de France organizers believe, for the moment, that “everything is good and well.”