From cup-throwing to fighting to medical emergencies, gameday security during Mississippi State University football games involves a lot of people as well as different duties to ensure public safety and a fun atmosphere.
Regional police departments also contribute to gameday security by offering their services in different ways, including helping with traffic and crowd control.
In order to provide an enjoyable experience for MSU fans, students and visitors, camera systems were installed in Davis Wade Stadium two years ago to help maintain a safe environment. Cameras that have zoom capabilities  are located around the stadium and can clearly capture a person’s face. 
Thomas Bourgeois, dean of students, said the cameras can also zoom in and have rewind capabilities. 
“We’re not looking for behavior, but if something happens, like if a fight breaks out or there’s a report of someone smoking in the stands, it’s pretty easy to zoom in right on their face,” Bourgeois said. 
These cameras are located throughout the stadium.
Brent Frey, gameday manager and assistant athletic director for event management, said four cameras overlook the student section. 
Frey said the cameras also overlook the east side of the grandstand and on the field.
People in the game manager’s booth watch the cameras’ feeds during the game. The feed can be slowed down and stopped in order to recognize people’s faces.
Members of the dean of students office, Frey, Kenneth Rogers, accreditation manager and special events coordinator for MSU Police, Event Operations Group personnel and facilities personnel, a paramedic and a weatherman watch the cameras’ feeds and monitor the stadium in case of possible situations and emergencies in the game manager’s booth.
Frey, who is in charge of everything that happens in the stadium, said he never leaves the booth.
“In the booth, we have pretty much all our bases covered as far as taking care of everything,” he said. “Everything goes through that booth.”
The game manager’s booth also has the power to suspend a game in case of inclement weather or for extraordinary situations.
Bourgeois said the camera system has decreased bad behavior in the student section. One of the problems that sparked the installation of the camera system was cup-throwing.
Bourgeois said cup-throwing three seasons ago was the worst the problem had been in a long time.
“Last year wasn’t as bad,” Bourgeois said. “With the cameras, I think we caught 15 or 16 students last year throwing cups.”
Bourgeois said the sanctions from throwing cups range from the minimum of being escorted out of the game, losing all athletic privileges to being banned from attending athletic games for the rest of the year.
“If you threw a cup and injured somebody, you could face assault. You could face up to suspension if someone is injured,” Bourgeois said. “For those 15 or 16 students, we revoked their athletic privileges. No one wants to go to a game and be showered with liquid. It’s not a tradition or something we need to foster,” Bourgeois said.
Tabor Mullen, assistant dean of students, said he brings the dean of students office inside the student section and is sometimes on scene with the police.
“I usually stand in the portals helping students get to their seats usually. I answer a lot of questions of where things are, and I also stand by the band,” Mullen said.
Bourgeois said one or two incidences have occurred this year.  The subject of one of these incidences was a cup-throwing repeat offender. Bourgeois said those in the booth knew who the student was because they watched the camera feed of the first football game.
Other actions that can lead to being escorted out of the stadium include fighting, smoking, seat-saving, being aggressive and intoxication.
“For the most part, I’m proud of the way 99 percent of our students act. But occasionally we have a student that gets out of line, and we have to readjust that,” Mullen said.
Bourgeois also said a non-student was the reason for one of this year’s incidences. 
In order to ensure the stadium’s safety and order, people inside the game manager’s booth, including Rogers, are in constant contact with police during gameday.
Rogers said if a situation requires a law enforcement officer response, he has radio contact with the officers to let them know the location and nature of the incident.
“We usually send an officer to anything that is inside the stadium, not just criminal, but if an officer is needed to back up a person, the message is dispatched,” Rogers said.
Bourgeois said MSU Police probably average 20 to 30 arrests per game, the majority  which are not students.
“When 80,000 plus people are on your campus, from heat exhaustion to emergency calls, you have to work very hard to stand out and be disruptive,” he said. 
Rogers said because of the increased number of people on campus, MSU Police is not alone on gamedays. Police officers in regional departments including Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department, Mississippi Highway Patrol, Starkville, Eupora, Columbus and West Point Police Departments help with traffic control and security inside the stadium and in tailgating areas. Officers from other Mississippi institutes of higher learning as well as certified former officers also contribute to gameday security.
“We really depend on those guys, and we appreciate the help we receive from our local agencies coming in to help us to do this. We don’t have enough officers in our department to pull it off, so we really depend on our surrounding agencies,” Rogers said.
Officers from outside agencies are sworn in as MSU police at the beginning of each football season.
“We do that because they are representatives of the police department, or they are acting on our behalf,” Rogers said.
Rogers said he contacts different police departments in the surrounding areas as soon as he knows a game’s kickoff time to find out how many officers are available to help for the day.
John Thomas, a Starkville Police Department captain, said the department mainly monitors parking on the bypasses, helps the shuttle buses downtown and monitors pedestrian traffic. 
The Starkville Police Department does not have a presence on campus, but officers are in phone and radio contact with MSU Police.
“I’m in contact with them in case they need anything. They call me. I’m always out for the games,” Thomas said.
The Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department is also involved on campus with gameday security.
Joe Morse, an Oktibbeha County Sheriff’s Department deputy, said he works in the student section during gamedays.
“We make sure they don’t get rowdy,” Morse said. “We make sure we don’t have other people in the student section that are not supposed to be there.” 
Other outside agencies like the Eupora Police Department are also actively involved with gameday security.
Dan Burchfield, Eupora mayor, said its police department supplies officers to help with security and crowd control as well. 
Rogers said Event Operations Group and Cobra Security officers are also hired to work during gamedays.
“Mississippi State has probably about 40 police officers, but on gameday, we hire about 100 to 150 plus other officers who we swear in as Mississippi State police officers,” Bourgeois said.
Rogers said the other police departments greatly assist MSU Police on gameday.
“It is because of the help we get from them we are able to provide the service we provide for gameday that we always want to provide in an environment that our fans feel safe,” he said.
Rogers said all law enforcement officers wear reflective vests during game days to be more visible to people in and around the stadium.
Bourgeois said gamedays are like fine puzzles, but everything is well planned out in committees and departments.