Baylor Dps Direct0r to Assist in Olympic Security
WACO, Texas - Jim Doak, director of the Baylor University Department of Public Safety, has been selected to assist with security measures during the Olympic Games beginning July 19 in Atlanta.
Doak will help coordinate security at Alexander Memorial Coliseum, which is where all boxing events will be held, but he could be used at more than one site. Of almost 9,000 applicants who applied to help with security work more than two years ago, Doak was one of 1,700 selected.
"It will be an incredible learning experience for me, but it won't be easy," Doak says. "I leave for Atlanta July 3 and we will have two weeks of extensive training in all forms of crowd management. We will receive the finest instruction in the world from the finest instructors - the very top people in their profession."
Security at the Olympics will be the tightest in history, Doak said. "Every conceivable agency you can think of plus some are involved," he said. "Everyone from the FBI to the Secret Service to numerous other agencies, plus the entire Atlanta police force and the Georgia Highway Patrol. I just read where the U.S. military is sending at least 11,000 troops to help.
"Every form of transportation will be monitored and hundreds of different locations. For example, where some of the events will be held outside of Atlanta near rivers and lakes, there are underwater diving teams that will patrol those areas. We'll be trained to cover every situation imaginable, from bomb threats to chemical spills."
The man in charge of all Olympic security is Bill Rathbun, former city of Dallas chief of police. Doak said Rathbun "left the Dallas job to head the Olympic security. He's a very capable man, but he's got a very difficult job.
"We'll be living at Morehouse College in Atlanta, which is inside an area called the 'Olympic Ring' and very near the Olympic Village which houses the athletes," Doak said. "It's going to be a very interesting time, but I looked at our schedule and I think we have only one day off the entire time I'll be there. The entire scope of the security measures is just incredibly immense. I'm sure I'll learn some things that will be of great value to my work here, so I think it's going to be a good investment of Baylor's time for me to do this. I don't expect to see much of the Games - it's certainly not going to be a typical summer vacation."
For more information, call Doak at (817) 755-2222.