https://archive.triblive.com/local/pittsburgh-allegheny/pittsburgh-police-to-monitor-chesney-tailgaters-from-27-foot-high-platform/
Pittsburgh police to monitor Chesney tailgaters from 27-foot-high platform
Megan Guza | Tribune-Review
Pittsburgh public safety officials are borrowing a piece of equipment called SkyWatch, a mobile standalone watchtower. Police and EMS crews will use the SkyWatch to keep an eye on crowds that will gather to tailgate during the Kenny Chesney concert at Heinz Field Saturday, June 2, 2018.
Pittsburgh police will have an eye in the sky to keep watch over Kenny Chesney tailgaters Saturday on the city's North Shore.
SkyWatch, a piece of equipment that looks like a cross between a forklift and a cherry picker, gives officers a temporary watch tower from which they can monitor crowds for altercations or distress. It can lift police 27 feet in the air.
Public safety officials are borrowing the SkyWatch from FLIR, the company that builds the equipment, specifically for the concert. Public Safety Director Wendell Hissrich said his department hopes to purchase one.
Just under 200 cities across the country have one, and it's also used by the government at the border and overseas.
“This is another tool we would like to bring to Southwestern Pennsylvania, whether it be for a concert like we're having this weekend of for something like Light Up Night, the Regatta or any other event whether it be here at the stadium, or the University of Pittsburgh or PNC (Park),” Hissrich said.
Inside the cabin are controls and monitors used to operate flood lights, a loudspeaker and thermal cameras, according to Howard Schemer, director of sales for FLIR.
He said the equipment was originally designed in Georgia to assist physically impaired hunters into tree stands.
Hissrich said representatives from Heinz Field, the University of Pittsburgh and other law enforcement agencies were on hand for Friday's demonstration. He hopes the SkyWatch could be something that multiple departments or agencies could chip in to help cover the $150,000 cost.
“It provides a high vantage point where you can't have a high vantage point,” he said.
In this instance, that vantage point will be set up in the Gold Lot 1, one of several parking lots that will open to tailgaters at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“We're trying to prevent problems before they occur,” Hissrich said. “We would rather prevent 12 people fighting and end it with one or two persons fighting. You get two people in an argument and it escalates. Here, hopefully we'll get a vantage point so that we can react quickly.”
Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach her at 412-380-8519, mguza@tribweb.com or via Twitter @meganguzaTrib.
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