Police Step Up Rugby World Cup Security as Practice for Olympics

Tokyo, Aug. 22 (Jiji Press)--With one month to go until the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, police are beefing up crowd control and antiterrorism measures also as practice for next year's Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic Games. Police departments in the 12 prefectures slated to host Rugby World Cup games will team up with the tournament's organizing committee to step up security near the venues. Of these, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department and the Kanagawa and Hokkaido police will be on especially high alert, as the venues there will also be used for Olympic events such as soccer matches. The MPD will dispatch staff to the World Cup's organizing committee, just as it will for the Olympics, to take part in devising the security plans for Tokyo Stadium, the venue for the tournament opener. The Tokyo police will also set up an around-the-clock response center during the tournament to deal with cyberattacks, which were observed in past Olympics. On the road from the stadium to its nearest train station, dubbed the "last mile," new security cameras have been installed so that accidents related to overcrowding will be prevented and terrorist threats swiftly dealt with. The Kanagawa police department plans to set up new security cameras and car barricades around International Stadium Yokohama, the venue for the World Cup final match. It will also deploy a camera-equipped balloon 60 meters aboveground to monitor congestion and suspicious activity. After the World Cup, authorities will decide how many to deploy during the Olympics. The Hokkaido police set up a response office for both the World Cup and the Olympic Games and conducted emergency training in July to practice evacuating foreign tourists. "Security for the World Cup is a preliminary to the Olympics," a senior MPD official said. "In addition to taking all possible measures, we want to make use of the experience for the Olympics." END