How Were People Affected by ECCC's New Security Rules for 2019?

Published Fri, 15 Mar 2019 13:00:28 -0500

Comic book convention security became a real hot potato subject after the attempted assassination of Jason David Frank at Phoenix Comic Con a few years ago. Two weeks ago, Emerald City Comic Con announced their new security measures to be implemented this year, to the expected attendant outrage.

Most complaints did not center on attendants having to submit themselves to security scanning and bag searching, but the way the security would be set up and that all 90,000 potential attendants would have to all filter into one line to go in one entrance at the Seattle Convention Center.

One line… thousands of fans… stretched around a Seattle street with traffic zooming by… all trying to get in one entrance.

When the Seattle Convention Center has dozens of entrances, now all blocked off to stream the crowds into one entrance. The question then became, can this work? Many attendants worried this would lead to hours of waiting time, and wondered if ReedPOP would be refunding ticket costs if the new security measures caused them to miss most of a day of the convention. Well, with the first day of ECCC 2019 done and gone, the security measures were … mixed.

The worst of fears were allayed. Attendants did not lose half the day waiting in line to get into the convention, but they some lost time, maybe up to an hour. Some professionals and retailers told us they were left scrambling for time, as they entered through a different line, but were then told after they'd checked in that they needed to go back to the main line to get in. Some got around it, others did not, and on Thursday morning, it made getting to the Diamond Retailer Breakfast a whole lot harder. Sorry for Diamond and Image Comics' presentations for those who arrived late.

After the proper convention opened at 10 am, more entrances opened for people to enter … but the lack of sufficient female security guards left many female cosplayers being frisked by male security guards – who were as considerate as possible, given the circumstances.

Some entrances allowed people to enter and then exit quickly … if they were retailers or professionals, but the general public had to re-enter the convention on the street level of the six-floor structure, even if they were coming back from the parking garage attached to the convention center. None of the entrances were clearly marked as to who could go through. This left frustrated people running around to find a place they could get in, when they were denied entrance.

As the convention closed for the evening, many attendants were stuck outside the convention center, walking through areas with high traffic volume, to get back to their cars in the convention center parking garage.

While not the "disaster" some said it would be, the new security measures were not a rousing success for convention goers and convention access. Of course, the alternative in this day and age could be a lot worse.

We'll see how it goes, as the convention goes on, and the show adapts to its new rules.

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