State Fair announces new security procedures after '11 mob attacks
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Melissa McCrady reports. Video by tmj4.com
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Officials from Milwaukee and West Allis were to hold a news conference on Monday to talk about new procedures at the 2012 Wisconsin State Fair.
Those procedures go in place a year after the mob attacks that happened at and outside the fair in 2011.
The goal was to promote a safe environment for the hundreds of thousands of people here at State Fair Park this week. Opening Day has been scheduled for Thursday.
A mob of teenagers went out of control, attacking people on the streets and neighborhoods outside the fair.
"There were so many, we felt helpless. It was the most helpless I think I've ever felt in my life," said Randy Lee, who witnessed the attack. TODAY'S TMJ4 talked to him again earlier in July 2012.
On the same day we talked to Lee, the State Fair unveiled their plans which include a greater number of security cameras.
"You've had cameras in the past. This is just more of them," said State Fair Police Chief Tom Struebing.
"The new state-of-the-art digital systems give us more surveillance capability."
The plan also includes bag checks and a curfew which requires parental supervision for guests under 18 years old after 5:00 p.m.
"It's part of our culture right now," admitted Rick Frenette, the CEO of the Wisconsin State Fair.
"It's part of what's happening. We have to be prepared for all the things that can happen, and we are prepared."
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