LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The upcoming adrenaline-fueled Formula 1 race won't be the first time a motorsports event has called the streets of Las Vegas home.
Caesars Palace hosted a Grand Prix in 1981 and again in 1982. Both races largely took place in the hotel's paved parking areas.
Crowds converged once again to watch the checkered flag wave on Las Vegas roads in 2007 in the now-defunct Champ Car Series. The nearly 2.5-mile street course wound through downtown and surrounding areas.
That race had an estimated 40,000 spectators, and attendance was free.
Fast forward to 2023.
November's Formula One Las Vegas Grand Prix will be the grandest of all, on a scale our city has never seen, with a projected 105,000 spectators per day and an estimated economic impact of about $1.3 billion dollars — double the money the Super Bowl LVIII is expected to generate.
But amid all the excitement and anticipation of an economic boon, serious security concerns lurk, ranging from terrorist threats to upticks in specific kinds of crime.
"It's going to be a learning experience for everybody involved," explains retired New Jersey Police Chief and former Director of Emergency Management Walter Kimble. "When you look at how the F1 event seemed to roll out, it rolled out quickly. That makes the challenges greater, for sure. And it makes the pressure on getting it right the first time greater, without question."
Kimble now handles nationwide risk management operations for motorsports events and consults on tourism safety and security.
"Any time you have large influxes of people coming into a city with a lot of money to spend, there tends to be an uptick in victimization."
The types of crimes Kimble is concerned about surrounding the Las Vegas Grand Prix include room burglaries, pick-pocketing, increased use of date rape drugs, and, most notably, human trafficking, which he says everyone must recognize.
"I know our law enforcement partners know this. Folks in hotels and security forces also need to know some universal warning signs, such as 'I need help' signing," he said. "We need to understand what may be some behaviors that would indicate the possibility of human trafficking. And that's something of tantamount importance."
Also, in the wake of the Hamas terror attacks, Kimble says more attention should be focused on "Terrorism-related chatter — be it domestic or international — related to the event."
He says intelligence gathering and counter-measures must take on new significance because acts like those we're witnessing in Israel can embolden fringe and self-radicalized actors seeking to harm an international event like F1.
We asked F1 organizers and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department what they're doing along those lines.
F1 referred us to Metro.
Metro declined our interview request, saying the department is working with community partners on a future press conference that will discuss the safety and security of the Formula 1 event.
But Sheriff Kevin McMahill previously spoke about it in July during a public program at the Mob Museum.
"F1 is, quite frankly, it's a nightmare for me. I'm not going to lie to you," McMahill said. "This type of event is something we've never dealt with before. The size of the footprint that we've never dealt with before. And, you know, the threat is huge!"
The sheriff said he has a lot of faith in his Special Events section and will count heavily on them during F1, where there will be many potential targets.
"Those of you that don't know what F1 is, I'll be honest, I thought it was a bunch of guys racing cars around like NASCAR, beer drinking, all that stuff. This is the richest people in the world for the richest sport. They come from everywhere. We don't even have enough room at [Harry Reid] or any other airport for all the private jets in this city. We already know that," McMahill said.
He candidly put it into context with everything else happening in our city as Las Vegas continues to emerge as a world-class sports destination.
"We're going to have baseball, hockey, football pretty soon — some of that stuff will be all the same weekend with a major fight. For some reason, we concentrated all of it at Tropicana and Las Vegas Blvd. Brilliant! And I decided to drop Tropicana while we're doing this and doing all the traffic. So I don't know. It's been brilliant all along the way, but we're dealing with it, right?"
Metro told us they don't yet have a date for that press conference. When they do, Channel 13 will bring you the latest safety and security developments surrounding F1.
