Crowd Control: Stores Ramp Up Security for iPhone Release

June 28, 2007 — -- Friday, thousands of people are expected to gather outside the nation's Apple stores, AT&T storefronts and shopping malls, waiting patiently for hours to buy an iPhone -- no more than two at a time.

At 6 p.m., after chatting with their neighbors on the snaking lines, customers will quietly, gratefully hand over their credit cards to pay for this year's most-anticipated gadget.

Yeah, right.

As the iPhone's release date nears, one thing is certain: Images of the new phone and the frenzy surrounding it are everywhere. So what will all that marketing, buzz and pent-up desire produce? If appropriate precautions aren't taken, experts said, a crowd control disaster.

"We hear about the nightmares," said Lou Palumbo, president and director of the Elite Agency LTD, a firm that handles security for ABC News in New York and the Golden Globe Awards. "Most of them are avoidable."

One such nightmare occurred when PlayStation3 was released to the nation in November 2006. People who camped outside of stores were mugged, at least one person was shot and some customers reportedly were trampled by crowds lunging for the gaming system.

According to Palumbo, the key to avoiding a similar situation with first-day iPhone-buyers is having a plan that exerts crowd control and prevents "bad behavior."

Unfortunately, when those plans aren't put into place, things can go wrong quickly, he said.

"It's not that complicated," Palumbo said. "Most people do these things by the seat of their pants and the end result is people get hurt, crimes are committed."

With all its stores carrying the iPhone, AT&T isn't taking any chances.

In addition to staffing an additional 2,000 sales employees to cope with crowds, the company has also taken security precautions.

"We have 1,800 retail stores around the country," Mark Siegel, AT&T's director of public relations said. "We have planned in great detail how to handle the influx of customers, including the need to work on security."