KANSAS CITY, Mo. — You think the anticipation leading to this moment feels good. Now that it’s NFL Draft week, the feeling is even better.

With an event of this magnitude — security preparations for this week are years in the making.
The stage is almost set and Kansas City will be on the clock.

“We have been working for a long time – planning and getting ready for this event alongside the sports commission and alongside the NFL,” Sgt. Jake Becchina with the Kansas City Police Department said.

More than 20 local, state and federal law enforcement agencies are working in tandem with KCPD.

Planning for this weeks big event goes back to the draft in Nashville in 2019. A layout that wasn’t as friendly as what Kansas City is offering.

“The model that we love for the draft is this exact one – one secure perimeter, one massive campus, everyone is together you can see every single pick come off the board,” Nicki Ewell the senor director of events for the NFL said.

Kansas City police are coordinating their efforts with the fire department and EMS as well. They plan to have their emergency operation center up and running and a full staff. Officers were not allowed to take off at any point during this week, so as they say it’s an all-hands on deck effort.

“That’s to ensure that we have the most amount of personal that we can get – available to us to help us secure that area,” Becchina said.

Becchina says the best way to be prepared and to help them is if you’re coming down. Have a plan before you leave home and treat this just like if you were going to a Chiefs game. Anything you can’t take there you can’t have at the NFL Draft.

“We are excited and we are confident that this is – this is going to be the biggest event we ever host and it’s going to be a good event. It’s going to be fun and it’s going to go off well,” he said.