Teamwork and preparation kept JCC Maccabi Campus Games safe and joyful
'What we didn't want to do was make people look like they're coming through a military base with people all around them'
Camaraderie, Jewish joy and support for Israel made the JCC Maccabi Campus Games memorable. Safety and security issues did not.
That was deliberate, explained Eric Kroll, Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s deputy director of community security.
Beginning in October 2024, Kroll and colleagues met weekly to design an environment where nearly 2,000 visiting athletes and another 3,000 coaches and spectators could comfortably experience the Games.
“We didn’t want everyone constantly seeing security or law enforcement,” he said. “We wanted people to participate in all the events and feel good about the city.”
Mostly, he continued, “We wanted parents to feel that their children were in good hands.”
Between Aug. 3-8, Jewish teens competed, volunteered and enjoyed Pittsburgh. Events were held at various sites, including Carnegie Mellon University, Shady Side Academy and the University of Pittsburgh. Buses transported athletes and coaches between venues. On Aug. 5, several thousand participants traveled to PNC Park to mark Jewish Heritage Night at the Pittsburgh Pirates game. Athletes were housed in Pitt’s dorms.
Prior to Aug. 3, Kroll and colleagues from more than 20 local, state and federal agencies visited each location, developed security plans and waited.
As the Opening Ceremonies unfolded on Aug. 4 at the Petersen Events Center, Kroll told the Chronicle, “This is the big day.”
The nearly weeklong Games are akin to a multi-day Super Bowl, he continued. “We need to stay focused.”
A basketball analogy might better capture the process of coordinating safety protocols, according to Shawn Brokos, Federation’s director of community security.
“It’s been a full-court press,” she said.
Brokos told the Chronicle she’d love to one day “peel back the layers of the onion” and detail the numerous ways cooperating agencies ensured participants’ safety.
She knows she can’t, she said, and instead offered vague descriptions of the planning and procedures.
Throughout the Games, plainclothes detectives and cameras were stationed at each site.
“We had eyes on all of our different assets,” Brokos said. “We had every single angle, every corner, covered. We knew what was happening at all times.”
That may be surprising to the thousands who freely roamed Oakland and other areas where the Games were held.
Concern exists, but the approach is one of “high presence, low profile, so low visibility,” Brokos said. “We don’t want people looking around and seeing armed guards or police officers on every corner.”
Alan Hausman, an emergency specialist for the City of Pittsburgh, agreed.
“What we didn’t want to do was make people look like they’re coming through a military base with people all around them,” he said.
Hausman was among those who regularly met with the security team as a lead-up to the Games.
What helped, he said, were preexisting ties between agencies.
“In public safety and in emergency management what we do every day in our job is foster those relationships, so when large events like this come together we’re all prepared,” Hausman said. “We know each other, we know each other’s capabilities, and everyone’s willing to work with each other. By knowing everyone and working with Pitt, and working with CMU and all these partners, we were able to leverage that to make a safer event.”
Keeping the Games safe required additional staff and equipment.
Between personnel, salaries, overtime, dorm sweeps and other expenses, security costs totaled about $400,000, according to Jason Kunzman, president and CEO of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh.
Kunzman, who spent the Games crisscrossing venues, observing activities and greeting visitors, told the Chronicle he is “thankful” for the countless partners who ensured an optimal experience.
“It’s a big lift,” Kroll said. “But it’s a team effort.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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