| Salt Lake City |
 |
 |
| GER |
12 |
16 |
7 |
35 |
 |
| USA |
10 |
13 |
11 |
34 |
|
| NOR |
11 |
7 |
6 |
24 |
|
| CAN |
6 |
3 |
8 |
17 |
|
| RUS |
6 |
6 |
4 |
16 |
|
| AUT |
2 |
4 |
10 |
16 |
|
| ITA |
4 |
4 |
4 |
12 |
|
| FRA |
4 |
5 |
2 |
11 |
|
| SUI |
3 |
2 |
6 |
11 |
|
| NED |
3 |
5 |
0 |
8 |
|
|
|
|
Oly security effort 'model for nation'
U.S., state, local agencies worked together as team
By Derek Jensen
Deseret News staff writer
Thanks to the extensive cooperation needed to safeguard the 2002 Winter Games, others with similar post-Sept. 11 Homeland Security responsibilities are looking to Utah as a model.
"We not only met international standards, we exceeded them and set new ones," Gov. Mike Leavitt said Friday.
"I don't know of any other area in the country that's as far along in the homeland security as what you find in Salt Lake and Utah," said David Maurstad, Region VIII director for the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We're already getting requests from other states to be able to tell them the emergency management strategy that evolved out of the Winter Games effort," said Maurstad, who oversees a six-state region that includes Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.
Because the Olympics were designated a National Special Security Event, FEMA was the lead agency for managing the
federal government's response in case of a natural disaster or terrorist attack.
Although their services were not, in the end, heavily called upon, security personnel for the Games tackled many tasks. They:
Flew 400 missions to secure restricted airspace.
Transported 323 people from Olympic areas to medical facilities.
Investigated 600 suspicious packages.
Provided 384 escorts for dignitaries.
Screened 1.6 million ticketholders, 2,500 athletes and nearly 12,000 members of the media.
And because of the planning that brought together FEMA and the other 60 federal, state and local agencies under the umbrella of UOPSC — the Utah Olympic Public Safety Command — their work is of interest around the United States.
"UOPSC will be a good model to be used across the country as other areas continue to respond to homeland security issues that are now on the front burner," Maurstad said.
Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge visited Utah before the Olympics and called the security collaboration a "model for the nation."
The largest domestic security operation in the nation's history ended with no major incidents, prompting Utah's governor to praise the public safety command during a visit to Olympic security headquarters Friday.
"Thank you on behalf of the people in our state," Leavitt said, calling the security efforts for the Games a "profound, resounding success."
E-mail: djensen@desnews.com
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March 9, 2002
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