The Department of Public Safety has received no information on specific threats to commencement ceremonies in the United States this year.

Local police though are still coordinating security measures for a potential influx of 12,000 to 14,000 visitors on the Hill this weekend. DPS Associate Chief John Sardino said over the last few months, police officers have been preparing for the big event.

“There is no specific intelligence out there that says we should be worried, but we will use best practices … to make sure the campus is as safe as possible with all of the visitors that will be around,” he said.

Sardino said a mix of about 25 DPS and Syracuse Police Department officers will be staffing commencement in the Carrier Dome on Sunday. Most officers will be walking around the Carrier Dome, but a handful will be in dress uniform on the floor with students for the ceremony, he said.

Visitors will be checked at Carrier Dome entrances by “yellow jacket” event staffers, who typically look through bags and screen individuals with handheld wands for athletic events.

With the recent installation of closed-circuit television in the Carrier Dome, Sardino added that DPS officers will be able to monitor areas of the venue from DPS’s command center in real-time.

This commencement will not require the same amount of security that past commencements have had due to high-profile keynote speakers like former Vice President Joe Biden, Sardino said. This year’s commencement speaker, Vernon Jordan, is not controversial or an elected official, he said. Jordan is a civil rights activist and past adviser to former President Bill Clinton.

“This commencement speaker isn’t going to draw a crowd that we’re going to have to use megatometers, or any of those measures like you would if it was some vice president or other dignitary,” Sardino said. Megatometers are walk-through metal detectors.

DPS will monitor social media and national trends in the days leading up to commencement to assess any potential risks to the event, Sardino said. The Onondaga County Sheriff’s Office will also perform a K-9 sweep of the Carrier Dome.

Sardino added that he will be monitoring the weather for commencement. Typically, he said, if it rains, visitors will either wait out the weather in their cars or drive around trying to find a parking spot close to the Carrier Dome, delaying commencement.

DPS officers will also be present at Saturday’s individual college convocations, Sardino said. According to the SU commencement website, there are 13 different convocations on Saturday. SPD officers will help direct traffic near the Carrier Dome and at Manley Field House for the convocations.

“It’s a lot of security, a lot of planning and coordination,” Sardino said. “… We want to do everything we can to make sure that the days are special, as well.”

Deanna Bailey, a field and event supervisor for SU’s Parking and Transit Services, said in an email she expects no issues with parking for commencement or the individual convocations on Saturday. Sardino said DPS officers will be stationed at parking checkpoints on Main Campus to assist with traffic. Officers will also assist visitors parking at the Skytop parking lot, if that lot fills with cars, he added.

For Saturday’s convocations, all parking garages and areas on Main Campus will be open from 6 a.m. to 10:30 p.m., according to the commencement website. The University Avenue Garage will have a wheelchair-accessible shuttle service to Schine Student Center and the Carrier Dome’s Gate A. Shuttle service from Gate A will also be available from 10:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. to assist individuals with limited mobility, per the website.

Parking is free on Saturday and Sunday for all campus open parking lots, Manley Field House and other parking lots and garages, according to the website.

University Avenue Garage is open from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, per the website, and a free shuttle service will be operating throughout the day from that garage to College Place.

Shuttle service will also be available Sunday from Manley Field House to College Place from 6:30 a.m. to 6 p.m., according to the website. Free shuttles will also run from South Campus bus shelters on Sunday.

Wheelchair-accessible buses, marked Call-A-Bus, will shuttle visitors between Manley Field House and the University Avenue Garage for commencement, with a direct route available to and from the Carrier Dome’s Gate A. Attendants will be available to assist passengers getting off these buses, per the website.

Published on May 8, 2017 at 5:19 pm

Contact Sam: sfogozal@syr.edu | @SamOgozalek