louisiana state police

A first-ever multi-agency operation is being conducted in the Port of New Orleans Maritime Security Operations Center, one of the five new maritime security interagency operations centers located on the lower Mississippi River.

The occasion? Super Bowl XLVII, of course.

To be held Feb. 3, the game at the Superdome is expected to draw 150,000 fans to New Orleans, starting now. Meanwhile, Mardi Gras festivities and parades, which pose security challenges on their own, get suspended for Super Bowl week, but will resume on Feb. 6, adding another build-up to security issues.

Response boats, patrol vehicles and personnel started conducting security operations at the Port of New Orleans on Jan. 28, according to news reports.

On terra firma, more than 1,200 New Orleans Police officers will start working 12-hour shifts Wednesday night. Another 370 officers and sheriff's deputies from outside the city and more than 200 Louisiana State Troopers will be part of the detail as well, according to a report from WWL-TV.

"Basically, you're going to see 400-plus police officers every hour of the day in the downtown core, in the French Quarter, on Frenchman Street," NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas told WWL-TV.

Security plans for the days leading up to the game and after have been underway for more than a year, officials said.

"We're going to be using the Mississippi Highway Patrol motorcycle units to move the VIPs, owners, some of the talent around, the teams, because traffic is going to be a challenge on game day and we just want to make sure we get people to where they're supposed to be," Ronnie Jones, spokesman for the Louisiana State Police, said in the report.

There will also be federal agents from the FBI, ATF, DEA and Homeland Security on duty during the big game.

I hope your favorite team wins!

The International Business Times has picked up the story of Tony Sheppard nabbing a notorious booster while in New Orleans at the NRF's LP show, which I reported in my blog on June 25.

Sheppard declined to comment on the story for IBT, but he did speak with Security Director News.

Very cool that the story got some international coverage. But it would have been cooler if it linked to my blog. (It did link to the NRF's blog, though, so at least IBT did offer credit.)

Tony Sheppard may have thought he was off the clock and just killing time before the National Retail Federation kicked off its Loss Prevention Conference & Expo in New Orleans on Tuesday evening. But he quickly discovered otherwise.

Sheppard, who is nationwide manager of ORC investigations for CVS/pharmacy, happened to be in Harrah's Casino on Monday, the day before the conference was set to begin.

At around 5:30 p.m., he rounded a corner in the casino and came face to face with someone he recognized—a professional shoplifter he had helped put away several years ago during an ORC investigation in Kentucky.

Sheppard happened to know this notorious booster was now out of jail and he was almost certain it was the same man he had just passed in the casino. To confirm, he called Ben Dugan, an ORC investigator for Walgreen's, and asked if he could send a photo of the booster and to see if there were any outstanding warrants for his arrest. Sure enough, photos confirmed it was his guy. Dugan was also able to confirm there was an outstanding warrant in Florida for this booster's arrest and, through the casino's security department, that he was booked at the casino hotel through Friday.

With this information in hand, Sheppard contacted the Louisiana State Police, which has an office in the casino. The state police agreed to apprehend the man. They went to his room, but he wasn't there. After some searching, law enforcement officers discovered the booster who shoplifted his way across the south at the craps table, where he was arrested.

And that's how Tony Sheppard, with help from his counterpart at Walgreen's and the Louisiana State Police, solved a crime in his spare time while in New Orleans for a conference.