Post by TheShadow on Oct 19, 2006 18:16:49 GMT -5
(AP) MILWAUKEE, Wisc. A spokesman for the Oakland Raiders said Thursday that security precautions at McAfee Coliseum are not changing after the team learned Wednesday of an Internet threat against the stadium.
The Department of Homeland Security passed on the information to the National Football League.
"They felt very strongly it was a not credible threat," Artie Gigantino, a senior administrator at the Raiders, said of authorities, adding that nonetheless, "you take all these things seriously."
According to the NFL, the threat was posted Oct. 12 and claimed that seven NFL stadiums including the Oakland venue would be hit with radiological dirty bombs this weekend.
The coliseum has a capacity of around 63,000.
Gigantino said optimal security at Raiders games is already in place.
"In the last five years, just like at the airports, security has changed and so you feel very much prepared if you're a stadium," he said.
Everyone entering the stadium on game days is patted down and backpacks are checked by security officers, he said.
Even if that might result in longer lines, "this has become part of society," he said.
"As always, we're aware of the situation; we're monitoring it," Oakland police spokesman Roland Holmgren said of the threats. "We have mechanisms that are already set up in place to deal with situations and circumstances such as this."
The Police Department follows the NFL's "best practices" guidelines where security is concerned, he said.
Bay Area Rapid Transit spokesman Jim Allison said that because the warning "has been deemed as not a credible threat," the agency, whose jurisdiction includes the Coliseum/Oakland Airport station a short hop from the stadium, would not be doing anything differently this weekend.
The Raiders are scheduled to play the Arizona Cardinals at the coliseum Sunday afternoon.