Super Bowl Volunteers Trained To Spot Suspicious Activity
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- Soon, 1 million people will flock to the Twin Cities to celebrate Super Bowl LII and everything the "Bold North" has to offer.
When they get here, they will be greeted by thousands of volunteers, all stationed at various points across the city.
This is the final week of training for Super Bowl volunteers and on Thursday morning about 70 people attended an educational session where they learned about how to recognize and report suspicious activity, sex trafficking and homelessness.
Sitting in on @MNSuperBowl2018 volunteer training. People will be educated on safety, human trafficking/homelessness, various events @WCCO #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/hvsep1hgpv
— Mary McGuire (@mcguirereports) January 18, 2018
Volunteers will be stationed throughout the city to help visitors at places like the airport, downtown hotels, the Mall of America, transportation hubs, Super Bowl Live festivities and the skyways.
Super Bowl organizers are also dealing with a uniquely Minnesotan "problem." They anticipated some volunteers would drop out before big game, but that hasn't happened.
"In previous Super Bowls, they built in some cushion, thinking that there is going to be some drop off. We are finding Minnesotans...if they sign up for something, they are ready for the job, so we have more than 10,000 volunteers," said Michael Howard, communications director for the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee.
These volunteers are not being paid and they don't even get to go to the Super Bowl. They do get some pretty cool gear and the chance to be a part of our state's history.
"We aren't working for the NFL, we are volunteering for the host committee," said volunteer Tim Simplot. "I consider myself an ambassador for the state and I want people to have fun and come back."
Each volunteer will have to complete at least three shifts during Super Bowl week. Those shifts range from 4 to 6 hours.
Volunteers will be on duty almost 24/7 during the week of the Super Bowl.
The first shifts start around 6:30 a.m and the last ones wrap up before midnight.