Ultra Music Festival is less than a month away.
MIAMI (CBSMiami) — Ultra Music Festival is less than a month away.
Officials are meeting to talk about security and safety issues for the 3-day electronic music festival held every year at Bayfront Park.
Close to 165,000 people are expected to attend the event this year and that size crowd in the park surrounded by tall buildings on 2 to 3 sides poses a significant security issue given recent events.
“Obviously things have happened this year and our officers are on high alert,” said Freddie Cruz, Miami Police Department commander. “We can’t emphasize it enough that we need the community to come and have a good time, but a criminal can take advantage of that and we want to take that away from them.”
Bayfront Park is surrounded by tall buildings on almost 3 sides, a situation similar to what happened in Las Vegas last October at the Harvest Music Festival where a gunman opened fire on the crowd killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more.
Wednesday was an initial planning meeting with local, state, and federal officials to make the event safe and secure.
Ray Martinez is the Chief of Security of the Ultra Music Festival.
“My message to the public is that if you see something then say something,” he said. “It is so important and so critical that the information comes to us so we can follow up on it. That’s our best resource for trying to prevent something from happening.”
The festival will be held on March 23,24, and 25th this year and, in addition to added security, there will be a number of first aid stations and emergency medical personnel throughout the venue.
If you see something say, something is the recurring safety theme and with the added presence this year it will make it easier for the right people to get the information should anything seem suspicious.
