APD says they spent a year developing strategies to keep fans safe -- and it paid off

ATLANTA — College football fans are still talking about Monday's National Championship game and police are talking about how their massive public safety operation during the game worked.

In an exclusive interview with Channel 2's Tyisha Fernandes, Atlanta Police Chief Ericka Shields described how federal, state and local law enforcement officials spent nearly a year gathering intelligence and developing strategies to keep fans safe, and all that preparation paid off.

Mercedes-Benz Stadium, the Georgia World Congress Center and Centennial Olympic Park were at the center of Monday’s big game.

TRENDING STORIES:

• Hundreds of fans cheer on UGA as they return to Athens
• Man accused of church plot warned congregants 'doom was looming,' police say
• New cemetery policy removes flowers, flags after 7 days on holidays

Hours before the game started, police had every entrance locked down so that access to the game and the halftime show concert were limited.

Police had concrete barriers to keep cars away from crowds, and they had extra surveillance, plus hundreds of officers on the ground. What you couldn’t see was the operation behind the scenes at the Atlanta Police Department’s high-tech joint operations center.

If anything unexpected happened, Shields said there were backup plans for the backup plans.

Cox Media Group