"We had many features of security and safety throughout the parade. Once again, we welcomed the world to Pasadena, and we wanted to ensure that everyone was taking care of one another.”— John Perez, Pasadena Chief of Police
PASADENA, CA, USA, January 2, 2022
“Our number one priority is the safety of all of our guests and volunteers,” said Pasadena Tournament of Roses CEO David Eads.
For that reason, the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl game had the tightest security ever. The entire route of the parade and the game afterwards was encircled by more than 600 mobile Archer 1200 barriers brought in by Meridian Rapid Defense Group. They were also there to protect the Command Center at City Hall as well as the Float Fest where fans could tour the floats up close after the event.
Recent tragic events have shown again how important it is to create a safe place for parade participants, as well as the estimated 600,000 parade attendees along Pasadena’s Colorado Boulevard.
Pasadena Police Chief John Perez said, “We had many features of security and safety throughout the parade. Once again, we welcomed the world to Pasadena, and we wanted to ensure that everyone was taking care of one another.”
Meridian CEO Peter Whitford explained how the company brought in the highly mobile barriers from all over the United States for this one big day of events. Mr. Whitford said, “At all the intersections along the parade route we placed our specially designed Archer steel barriers, which can stop a vehicle from breaking through and getting onto the parade route. In the past they have used concrete barriers which need heavy equipment to lower into place, while the Archer barriers are easily wheeled into position by just one person. I’m proud to say that our barriers have been given the highest certification by the Department of Homeland Security.”
“Later in the day over at the Rose Bowl game fans saw even more of our barriers and beam gates,” said Eric Alms, Meridian’s President. “Our deployment experts worked with the city and event organizers for some weeks to prepare a fully certified vehicle safety mitigation plan for the events. It’s certainly worth being over-prepared when you have massive crowds like that all pouring into the city on this one day.”
The Archer 1200 Barriers are designed to be highly mobile. Prior to the start of the parade the hundreds of barriers were quickly wheeled across the intersections. They are designed in such a way that they form a secure barrier against a vehicle, yet people could walk easily and unobstructed past them to the parade route. Once the event was over, in a matter of minutes, they were just as quickly moved away, allowing traffic to flow again.
“With thousands of people along the parade route, safety was our top priority,” said Pasadena Fire Chief, Chad Augustin.
Meridian Archer 1200 Barriers are “SAFETY Act Certified” by the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) providing the ultimate standard in keeping people, communities and places safer. For more information about Meridian Rapid Defense Group and the Archer 1200 vehicle barrier visit www.meridian-barrier.com
