What do you know about G4S, the Superbowl security company?
“G 4 MESS” or “Gangs 4 Security”
What is G4S, who owns the security firm and what scandals has the company been involved in that will be securing Superbowl LII?
What started as a whistleblower may be the makings of a larger ticking time bomb than most realize. The biggest sporting event of the year… Superbowl LII is just around the corner on February 4, 2018 and with it, a potential for mayhem. The headline from KSTP…Stadium Security Whistleblower: ‘I Had Moral Responsibility’ to Speak Up
…featured the story of former head of security at U.S. Bank Stadium, Don Banham, speaking out about apparent violations at the Monterrey Security operations, the location of this year’s Superbowl match up between the Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots.
“There
were things that came to my attention that I morally and ethically did
not feel comfortable with,” he said. “I felt it was incumbent upon me to
bring it to the attention of the state board who is responsible for
regulating the licenses for the security in the state of Minnesota.”An audit discovered Monterrey used “ambiguous job titles as justification to ignore state requirements” and that they “employ people with disqualifying criminal histories” and many employees “have either not passed or been submitted for a background check.” [1]
The Superbowl has therefore had a change to their security firm leading up to the big day. And guess who was awarded the security contract? #G4S
G4S Security guards
We may find out soon enough. The Minneapolis Star Tribune has reported G4S, “will provide the 24/7/365 security of the building” according to Patrick Talty, the general manager of SMG, the firm that owns the stadium.
Sudden changes of security a few months before a big event are not a good sign. [2] And here are a few reasons we are concerned with G4S taking over this most important of sporting events with attendance expected to peak at stadium capacity.
There is also a common link between the Orlando shooting, San Bernardino, and Washington Naval Yard incident: #G4S. Guess who worked for G4S Secure Solutions, one of the world’s largest security firms and a government contractor for the Department of Homeland Security?
– Jesus Campos, the secretive security guard who was on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Hotel at the time of the Las Vegas shootings. Campos was not registered in Las Vegas as a guard but was internationally registered G4S security which is international and used by the federal government deep state for clandestine mercenary strikes.
– Omar Mateen, the gay Muslim gunman who killed 49 people last year at Orlando Pulse nightclub
– James Wesley Howell, who was headed to a gay pride event in California on the same day as the Orlando massacre when he was arrested by police after they found a loaded assault rifle and chemicals mixed and ready to explode in his car.
– Kevin James Loibl, who killed Orlando singer Christine Grimme, on the Friday night before the Omar Mateen slaughter.
– The San Bernadino shooters Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife Tashfeen Malik as well as Enrique Marquez, their close friend who purchased the two assault rifles used in the shooting
– Alpha Mohamed Jalloh, the FBI informant and prime suspect in the murder of Seth Rich.
G4S (aka Wackenhut) – A big private company – one with a board of former CIA, FBI and Pentagon officials; one in charge of protecting Nuclear-Weapons facilities, nuclear reactors, the Alaskan oil pipeline and more than a dozen American embassies abroad; one that also runs the security for all the airports involved in 9/11, NASA, Area 51, the private prison complex, and has been tasked with the transportation and release of illegal immigrants inside the interior of the United States.
And we’re back to Hillary Clinton’s stint as S of S…”Is G4S, formerly known as Wackenhut (“we do stuff even the CIA won’t touch”) the right company to provide Super Bowl security?” I just found this article about the lack of security at the Embassy in Kabul in 2009. “Security for the Embassy is provided under a Department of State contract with ArmorGroup, North America (AGNA), which is now owned by Wackenhut Services, Inc. (Wackenhut). What do you think? [3]NOTICE TO SUPERBOWL FANS – Crisis Acting Company “G4S” Has Been Hired For Security At The Stadium This Year – G4S/Wackenhut also specialize in crisis acting and active shooter drills and they were running a “mandatory active shooter training” in Las Vegas on the same day as the shootings. HEADS UP PEOPLE – WHAT AN AMAZING COINCIDENCE!!!
Another interesting change concerning the Superbowl security involved the new head of NFL security and her former notoriously infamous position in Washington DC. Lanier resigned as Chief in the district that Seth Rich, the DNC staffer that was murdered and still remains unsolved.
NFL hires D.C. police chief to head security
Cathy Lanier spent 26 years with the Washington, D.C. police department but has resigned her position as chief to join the NFL. The NFL announced the hiring of Lanier as the league’s new senior vice president of security.
“We are excited to welcome to our team an individual of Cathy’s talent and extensive record of accomplishments,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “Cathy joins us with a well-deserved reputation of being a tremendous communicator, innovator and relationship builder.”As the league’s chief security officer, Lanier will supervise all operations and activities of the NFL security department. She will oversee coordination…..event security including the Super Bowl and international games, game integrity programs, and department administration. [4]
G4S “Nobody on Duty” Cartoon
In the case of G4S I have found that it is a British security firm that operates in over 100 countries with over 620,000 employees, making it the largest employer on the London Stock Exchange. It has a checkered past to say the least. It had to pay millions of dollars to the British Government for its failure to provide security to the 2012 Olympics in England. This failure caused the British government to have to deploy thousands of troops to provide adequate security. There have also been other scandals involving the company.
G4S acquired a U.S. Security firm named Wackenhut Corp. that also has a questionable history and made it a subsidiary company named G4S Security Solutions USA Inc. This is the company that actually employed Mateen who became an employee in 2007.
So this where it gets scary; G4S has contracts with numerous federal agencies including the State Department, Departments of Interior, Labor, Justice, Energy as well as the IRS, DEA, Homeland Security. It has also been hired by the U.S. Army, Air Force, and NASA. As a result, G4S has worked on projects at Guantanamo Bay, and provides security services for over 50 American embassies around the world, 90 percent of the nuclear facilities in the United States, as well as numerous prisons and juvenile detention facilities around the country.
In the case of the contract with DHS the G4S has a rather unique job. It is providing secure transport for people have entered the United States illegally and are OTMs, (from countries other than Mexico) to sanctuary cities in the United States. In other words, people who have already violated U.S. laws by entering our country illegally and who are from Central American countries or from the Middle East and could be gang members, drug dealers, or even terrorists are provided with a free pass into our cities with no questions asked.
This means that G4S is an active participant in the Obama administration and DHS efforts to violate U.S. immigration laws, the U.S. Constitution, and a federal court order. This is placing Americans around the country in danger of being subjected to criminal activity, and more possible terrorism like that which just occurred in Orlando.
If G4S allowed an obvious security risk like Omar Mateen to continue to be and employee one has to wonder how many others like him are out there guarding prisons, nuclear sites, embassies, and other sensitive government facilities. One also has to wonder why the federal agencies that employ this company and continues to pay it millions of tax dollars, seem oblivious to the problem.
However, this also raises another and more insidious question. Are the actions of G4S just the failure of a private company employed by our government or is it the result of political correctness run amok. Was Mateen allowed to continue to work for the company and have a license to carry firearms because the company was prohibited by our government from firing him, despite the clear danger he represented, because he was a Muslim. [5]
G4S Scandals:
G4S Fraud Inquiry Headlines
Numerous scandals and gaffes, such as overcharging on its electronic tagging contract in the UK, have not put many public authorities off from writing cheques for this outsourcing and security behemoth. G4S has been plagued by scandals and negative media coverage linked to violations of human rights, ripping off taxpayers, and gross mismanagement. As a result, the company has come under sharp criticism from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International. Jewish Voice for Peace has compiled a detailed report on G4S’s various human rights violations, corruption, and management failures. [2]
- A riot erupted at the G4S-run Manus immigration detention centre in Papua New Guinea. During the riot, Reza Berati a 23-year-old Iranian asylum seeker, was killed while another person was shot and dozens were injured. A G4S guard claimed that security staff had “lost control” of the centre as seen by the Guardian and another described it as a “war zone”.
- In 2010, 773 complaints from the immigration detainees were received about G4S it was responsible for holding at its three detention centres. It was a rise of 240 on the year before. Only 130 were logged as fully or partially substantiated, said the BBC which revealed the figures.
- In 2010, Jimmy Mubenga, a 46-year-old Angolan man was being deported from the UK. While on board the flight to Angola, Mubenga was restrained for 30 minutes by three G4S security staff who were escorting him, apparently while trying to leave his seat, saying “I don’t want to go”, having difficulty breathing and ultimately dying from being restrained.
- For the 2012 Olympic Games in London, G4S revealed it could not meet its contractual obligation to provide enough security staff for the global event. The British Army was called instead to help staff London 2012, a clear target for terrorists, because G4S could not cope. It took an £88m hit in compensation to the government for not being able to fulfil its Olympics security contract. Former G4S chief executive, Nick Buckles, was hauled in front of MPs over the blunder – which he called a “humiliating shambles”.
- In mid-2013, Chris Grayling the justice secretary revealed
allegations that G4S had been overcharging taxpayers on its contract
with the government to operate the electronic tagging of offenders.
G4S had been charging for the tagging of criminals who were dead or already in prison. Though a review by law firm Linklaters found no evidence of intentional wrongdoing by G4S staff, the security firm is repaying £108.9m to the government. It is still banned from winning any new public contracts in the UK. This is until the government is satisfied that enough changes have been made to the culture and practices inside G4S and a criminal investigation into the tagging contract by the Serious Fraud Office has reached its conclusion. - In 2013, allegations surfaced of torture abuse by G4S staff at South Africa’s tough Mangaung prison.
Footage from the prison leaked to the BBC appeared to show the sound of a prisoner being electrocuted. He was shrieking in agony. A statement from the South African government said it thought G4S had “lost effective control of the facility”. [6]
[7]What could be better for a hardcore football fan than to help plan wireless coverage for the NFL’s Super Bowls, which has come with the opportunity to attend the events?
Thanks to the intersection of technology and sports, Verizon’s Brian Mecum, is living and working a dream that others can only hope for at bedtime. But if you think planning for new and upgraded distributed antenna systems (DAS) for NFL venues both new and older is a light-lifting, walk in the park, think again.
Soaring fan video demands have called for Mecum to build brainier and brawnier wireless systems.
For those not versed in wireless tech talk, a DAS What’s a DAS? Part of the answer is with a robust distributed antenna system, (DAS), which is a network of spatially separated antenna nodes connected to a common source that provides wireless service within a geographic area or structure. It’s common for venues to have DAS from multiple wireless providers.
According to Verizon, its network enhancements for the Minneapolis area include: Read
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24 new permanent cell sites
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230+ permanent small cell sites
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Doubling of network capacity on Nicollet Mall with a new small cell/design solution inside new bus shelters
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LTE Advanced features added to the 4G LTE network for greater capacity and faster peak data speeds
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48 percent more antennas (for a total of 1,200+) added to Verizon’s DAS at the Stadium in 2017
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A new neutral host DAS system at Mall of America boosting Verizon’s network capacity by 900 percent
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A new neutral host DAS system at Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport adding new 4G LTE coverage in tunnels, boosting Verizon’s network capacity throughout the airport by more than 1,000 percent
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“To keep them in control was not difficult – So long as they continued to work and breed, their other activities were without importance. And when left to themselves, like cattle turned loose upon the plains of Argentina, they had reverted to a style of life that appeared to be natural to them, a sort of ancestral pattern…Heavy physical work, the care of home and children, petty quarrels with neighbors, films, football, beer and above all, gambling filled up the horizon of their minds.” ~George Orwell, from the Book 1984SOURCES:
[1] KSTP
[2] Veterans Today
[3] WikiLeaks
[4] Sporting News
[5] USJF.net
[6] ibtimes
[7] Patriots.com
Ami Tiel
Ami Tiel is a seeker of truth who loves sharing with her
readers. She has traveled from the backroads and bayous to the White
House and skyscrapers seeking reliable verified resources for her
articles. Her passion for writing goes back to school days and love of
essays and research projects. Ami’s interests in education and our
children’s futures have led her into various areas of expertise. Her
strong faith and upbringing shine through in her work and add a special
touch to her pieces. Today you may find her pouring over Supreme Court
cases of yesteryear or technical journals of the future. She feels her
faith, family and the future of this great country are guiding lights in
her writings and hopes you feel the same.
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