Security Now Part of Pasadena’s Rose Ritual

With the nation on high alert for threats of terrorist attack this New Year’s Day, stewards of the world-televised Tournament of Roses have instituted safeguards that will make security at Thursday’s Rose Bowl game and Rose Parade the tightest ever.

More than 1,000 local and federal law enforcement officers will fill the streets of Pasadena on game day, many of them in plain clothes, while electronic sensors will sniff the air for biological agents and video surveillance cameras will watch the throngs of spectators.

Above the game and parade, stringent flight restrictions will limit air traffic to police and military aircraft, while in the Rose Bowl, every stadium employee must wear a photo ID badge.

“I think there is a little more tension now because of the increase to orange [terror-threat level] and everything that you’re hearing,” said Xavier Suazo, security coordinator for the USC football program.

Tournament of Roses officials and other authorities say the 115-year-old parade has operated on high alert since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, but that their ability to control access to the event has improved. Those improvements, according to Rose Bowl chief executive Mitch Dorger, comprise “a ton of things we won’t talk about.”

Citing credible reports of a planned terrorist attack against the United States “equal to or greater than those that occurred on 9/11,” Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge on Dec. 21 raised the nation’s terror threat level from yellow, or elevated, to orange, or high -- the second-highest position on the color-coded ladder.

Authorities say they have no evidence that the Tournament of Roses has been targeted by terrorists, but the event’s size and notoriety have made it an obvious concern, said a federal law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“It is part of Americana, and [the events] have a huge international audience. And the purpose of terrorism is to use acts of violence to spread a message,” the official said. But there is no specific reason to believe, he said, that an attack on the Rose Parade would “fit the bill” for a major attack that might be considered by terrorists.

“If what we are hearing about their [goal] is true, this event isn’t it,” said the official.

Law enforcement officials say that on New Year’s Day there will be more police in Pasadena at peak moments than in the entire city of Los Angeles.

Among the safeguards planned for the parade, which will wind down Orange Grove and Colorado boulevards, is an army of motor-home owners parked along the parade route, according to Janet Pope, adjutant to the Pasadena police chief.

RV owners, much like residents in Neighborhood Watch, will be asked to report suspicious activity. Police and citizen volunteers for the department will visit every RV along the route to discuss the program, handing out decals. Also, “RVs will be subject to search along the route when officers believe it is necessary,” Pope said.

RVs left unattended overnight will be towed, as will cars, Pope warned. Vehicles parked within a block of the parade, she said, may also be subject to searches, with particular attention to trucks and motor homes.

Security will be tightest at the point where the parade turns onto Colorado, because that is where most of the TV cameras and all the anchor booths are located. That area will be restricted to grandstand ticket holders and those with special passes.

Gone are the days when parade-watchers could gather along some of the prime curb spots beneath the television cameras. The area will be sealed off from 4 a.m. to noon on parade day.

Security around the floats also will be tighter than ever, with guards posted at each float the night before the parade.

The Federal Aviation Administration has banned small planes from flying below 5,000 feet within five nautical miles of the parade from 6 to 8:15 a.m. From then until 1:45 p.m., small planes may not fly below 3,000 feet.

Since March, the FAA has forbidden small planes from flying below 3,000 feet within three nautical miles of open-air stadiums during some major events.

Police Lt. Robert Mulhall said that a news helicopter belonging to KTLA will act as a pool helicopter for the media and will be the only nongovernment aircraft in the parade area.

The Goodyear blimp, a familiar sight to residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the bowl, will be absent, Mulhall said.

The bowl game, too, has many flight restrictions that will effectively remove the flotilla of blimps, media choppers and planes towing banners that filled the skies around the stadium before Sept. 11, 2001.

The crowds camped out overnight for the parade and game will discover that police are not as tolerant of raucous behavior as in years past, Pope said. Officers will promptly remove anyone disturbing the peace or breaking the law, he said.

Sheriff Lee Baca said his department would provide more than 100 deputies to help patrol the parade route. “Everything possible is being done to secure the parade route and game,” he said.

Security is a somewhat simpler matter at the Rose Bowl than along the parade route, officials said. The stadium is a defensible site because it “is like a fortress,” Dorger said. “It’s all poured concrete and it’s built up on dirt. It’s protected by dirt ramparts.”

Security cameras have monitored events in the Rose Bowl since soccer’s 1994 World Cup. On Thursday, however, fans will be searched upon entry, and security guards and police may also search cars and use mirrors to peer underneath, Pope said.

Thursday will mark the first time in Rose Bowl history that everyone who works at the stadium, from reporters to hot dog vendors, is required to wear a photo ID card around their necks. Everyone on the sidelines, other than players, also must wear them.

“We assume the players know each other,” Dorger said. “It’s pretty tough to put a ringer onto a football team.”

Stronger fences and concrete barriers have been installed around the stadium in recent years. Officials also have created a “sanitary zone” immediately around it, and any vehicle entering the zone will be searched.

Those restrictions, instituted several years ago, mean that team buses must park a short distance from the stadium, leaving players from USC and the University of Michigan to walk the rest of the way.

For the most part, the players said they haven’t worried about terrorists.

“It doesn’t even cross my mind,” Michigan defensive lineman Pat Massey said. “I’ve got a big game to play.”

Times staff writers Greg Krikorian and Jennifer Oldham contributed to this report.