OC Fair to ramp up security this year

March 24, 2017 7:30 PM PT

Orange County Fair officials plan increased security at this summer’s fair, according to a presentation given Thursday to the Fair Board.

Entrance gates will contain more magnetometers, or stationary metal detectors, bringing the total to 31, said Nick Buffa, the fairgrounds’ director of security and transportation operations.

The fairgrounds also plans to hire an additional 50 gate staff.

Buffa said fairgoers didn’t like how magnetometers slowed entrance times last year, but were appreciative of the enhanced security.

Gate security is increasingly tight. Guards started inspected bags in 2014 and introduced metal-detecing wands in 2015. Magnometers were added in 2016.

Buffa said K-rails will be used for the first time to create pedestrian-safety zones at the entrances gates. The rails can help deter unauthorized vehicle access.

bradley.zint@latimes.com

Twitter: @BradleyZint

Bradley Zint

Bradley Zint left Times Community News in 2018. He was a general assignment reporter for the Daily Pilot, where he worked since 2010. At the Pilot, he also was a copy editor, classical music columnist and reporter covering Costa Mesa and Newport Beach. He previously worked in Hermosa Beach, Long Beach, Alaska and Massachusetts. He is a graduate of Cal State Long Beach, where he served as editor-in-chief of its campus newspaper, the Daily 49er.