As hundreds of thousands of people descend into downtown Vancouver this weekend for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour shows, it’s a good idea to have a plan in place to keep yourself safe.
While hundreds of Vancouver Police Department officers will be patrolling the downtown core to keep things orderly, one security consultant has some advice that you can do yourself.
DJ Lawrence with Pretect Protection Services says his number one tip is to not trust your phone if you get separated from your loved ones.
“If you’ve got young ones, especially, or a group of people, maybe it’s their first concert experience in a big venue, one of the things — write your phone numbers on a piece of paper and your seat locations on a card. Put it in everybody’s pocket, especially in the young kids’, in case they get lost and separated. You could even write it on the ticket,” Lawrence told 1130 NewsRadio.
Lawrence, who has been in the security industry for decades, explains that you should also have a planned meeting place if you do become separated.
“My family, we use the northeast corner. It could be any corner, it doesn’t matter, but you’ll always remember it. And that way, say you’re at Metrotown Mall, if you’re at the northeast corner, you’ve now reduced a two-mile perimeter to a couple of hundred feet,” he explained.
Lastly, Lawrence urges that you ensure children know where they can go and who to ask for help if they get lost.
“For young ones, teach them to go to uniform police or uniformed security. The venues all have a method of communicating situations such as missing and separated children, and teach the kids that that is safe to go to uniformed security and police personnel,” he stressed.
He adds it’s also going to be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the rules at BC Place when it comes to what you can and can’t bring in.
Swift’s last stop on her almost two-year-long Eras Tour begins Friday, with two more shows on Saturday and Sunday nights.
The Eras Tour concerts in Vancouver are presented by Rogers, the parent company of 1130 NewsRadio and CityNews.