Private security biz booms as vague messaging casts doubt on World Cup safety, preparedness

A KCPD officer at World Cup law enforcement training // Screenshotted from KCPD Facebook profile

Drones, cameras, and plenty of boots on the ground—that’s what local private security firm, Titan, is offering KC businesses as the World Cup approaches. 

According to supervisor Maj. Jordan Roberts, the firm has begun a major scale-up in hiring to accommodate tournament expectations. 

“Typically, we’ll use specific sites that are more professional. They’re tried and true,” Roberts says. “We’re trying some additional, uncommon avenues to see if we can get more people through the door for interviews and orientations. And so far, we’re seeing a pretty large success.” 

For existing staff, Roberts says that Titan is “absolutely ramping up training” to meet anticipated demand, as they claim to be inundated by business with security requests along with “last minute” immediate response calls; the latter is Titan’s bread and butter. 

This all comes as the World Cup is set to start in about a month, which, leading up to now, has had sparse reassurance from the City regarding safety and security readiness. Meanwhile, this increased scaling of private security perhaps reflects some distrust in the system. 

City response

In late April, the City held a day-long training combining various public safety departments and first responders to rehearse awry scenarios at the World War I memorial. But not without booting the press from the rehearsal after a quick briefing, and not without a now-deleted TikTok from an actor concerned with how the exercise actually played out. 

Chief Stacey Graves speaks before law enforcement rehearsal // Screenshotted from KCPD Facebook profile

He recounts a training scenario in which a guest—who speaks only Spanish—panics and becomes distressed after losing his partner in the Fan Fest crowd. 

“The cops didn’t have a translator with them, so the cops just cuffed them and moved them along because they weren’t moving on their own and cooperating with police,” user 607mystic alleges. “And then they started singing the Dora the Explorer song while they were walking him off.” 

To this, a KC2026 spokesperson responded to The Pitch with the following: 

“Safety and security are our top priorities as we prepare for the FIFA Fan Festival™ Kansas City. Exercises like the one conducted this week are specifically designed to test operations and gather candid feedback so we can strengthen our plans ahead of the event. We appreciate input from all participants and are following up directly to better understand any concerns raised. That feedback will be incorporated into our post-exercise review as we continue refining a safe and welcome experience for all attendees.” 

Did I mention this exercise is the only large-scale, public safety-wide rehearsal before the tournament?

Titan stepping in

In contrast to what the City can and can’t do, Roberts says Titan plans to fill the gap with speed and staffing. What remains, then, is the question of quality. 

To this, Roberts says Titan intends to handle language barriers using “apps we have on our phones” or reaching out to a hotline or the City itself for an available translator. Meanwhile, Titan trains its personnel with a virtual firearms training simulator, through which Roberts claims that officers can respond as more than just guards. 

For businesses, too, Titan has begun proactively offering their services and has released a security readiness toolkit for those interested—not unlike a commercially oriented playbook from KC2026, the organization responsible for coordinating World Cup activity in the city. 

International implications and relations

Another concern on the City’s part was its relative quiet in March, when a man was charged after planting 20 undetonated explosives on the very grounds of the Fan Fest. 

Counter to future possibilities of this happening, Missouri Governor Mike Kehoe’s activation of the National Guard will work in tandem with KCPD forces. But, this arrives at a fraught moment for international visitors, who have been welcomed by the Trump administration’s recent travel bans and steep visa bonds—particularly for Algerian and Tunisian nationals as their teams are set to play in Kansas City. 

Meanwhile, local organizations like Decarcerate KC have voiced their opposition to the construction of a temporary jail, while the ongoing presence of ICE and ICE facilities throughout the metro have sparked significant concern. 

Perhaps, in turn, the numbers on flight and hotel bookings don’t exactly reflect KC2026’s estimated 650,000 “unique visits.” That isn’t to leave out, either, a video of KCPD’s rehearsal of storming a bus in full SWAT gear (KC2026’s transit passes for World Cup-tivities available now, by the way). 

“We recognize that recent visa policies may create questions for some international fans, including those traveling from Tunisia and Algeria,” another KC2026 spokesperson wrote to The Pitch. “It’s important to us that the World Cup remains a truly global and welcoming event. We continue to see high interest in the World Cup in Kansas City, and we’re focused on creating memories for visitors and sustained and long-term impact for the region.” 

We are not going out of our way to focus on predicting the worst. But would we be ready for it? Current information does not inspire confidence.