New ‘Skins Stadium To Have Holding Pens

In the bowels of Jack Kent Cooke Stadium, beneath tons of concrete, and far from the luxury suites, three suites of another sort await their first guests. They are “holding cells,” and they are reserved for unruly Washington Redskins fans who break the law.

Potential inhabitants for the basement suites will be identified by the Redskins and Prince George’s County, Md., Police. These two organizations have put together a state-of-the-art camera system that can scan the crowd, zoom in on a perpetrator bothering a seat neighbor and -- with the help of a computer overlay -- direct security to the row where the disruptive fan is sitting.

“This helps you find the few bad apples who ruin it for everybody,” said Jeff Klein, vice president/stadium manager for Cooke Stadium.

Redskins security and Prince George’s police will keep an eye on the stadium from a bank of video monitors in an operations room not far from the cells. From there they will control various cameras throughout the stadium that can zoom in and identify alleged lawbreakers, direct assistance to fans in trouble or help locate pedestrian traffic jams.

Two cameras on top of the stadium at either end of the 50-yard line can zero in on any seat in the house, according to the Redskins. From there, “We should be able to get a clear upper body and face shot from across the field,” said Fred Curdts, senior vice president at Signal Perfection Limited of Columbia, Md., which is installing the cameras.

More cameras will be positioned throughout the stadium concourses and four more will be placed in the parking lots, according to the Redskins. If there is a fight, accident or traffic jam, security can be dispatched in a few seconds.

Over the past six years, only one person has been arrested inside Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium at a Redskins game -- and that was for running on the field, according to Jim Dalrymple, executive director of the D.C. Sports Commission, which runs RFK. “The Redskins fan is a more mature fan than most,” Dalrymple said.

But not all fans exert such self control. Two years ago, a New York Giants fan was prosecuted for throwing iceballs at members of the opposing team. Pro Player Stadium in Miami, home of the Dolphins, averages about six arrests per game, according to Prince George’s County Police, which did some checking. And Ericsson Stadium in Charlotte, home to the Carolina Panthers, averages about two arrests per game.

The Baltimore Orioles have holding cells for the one to three arrests they average per game, according to Jim Slusser, director of security for the Maryland Stadium Authority. “There are many stadiums with similar rooms,” said Clark Mleynek, one of the Kansas City architects who helped design Cooke Stadium.

Mleynek helped design the three holding cells at Cooke, which are about 6 feet by 10 feet, with an unbreakable glass window in the door. The rooms can hold more than one person. Outside the cell is another controlled room, a small hallway where the police officer can fill out paperwork.

The holding cells are “a place where you can take the individual, secure them and get the paperwork done,” according to Lt. Bill Lowry, commander of the special events section for Prince George’s police. Lowry said the rooms are only for people who have been arrested.

The holding cells have been around for years, but the cameras are the new rage, according to stadium experts. Pro Player Stadium is adding to its 40 cameras and has 22 monitors in its operations room, according to Bruce Schulze, the stadium’s vice president and general manager.