|


|
|
09/18/26 03:24:00
Printable Page
09/18 15:22 CDT Security measures at Ole Miss will be heightened for Lane
Kiffin's high-profile return with LSU
Security measures at Ole Miss will be heightened for Lane Kiffin's high-profile
return with LSU
OXFORD, Miss. (AP) --- Mississippi will assemble the state's largest law
enforcement presence ever for a college football game this weekend,
highlighting the heightened security in place around the stadium and off campus
for the much-anticipated game on Saturday night against LSU and former Rebels
coach Lane Kiffin.
Ole Miss students were warned this week that nobody wearing an opposing team's
apparel will be allowed to enter the student section at Vaught-Hemingway
Stadium and that anyone spotted by security in opponent gear or colors during
the game will be removed.
This unusually strict protocol was enacted with tensions between the
Southeastern Conference rivals as high as ever, following Kiffin's departure
for LSU late last year at the end of the regular season, just before Ole Miss
entered the College Football Playoff. The Tigers are ranked seventh and the
Rebels are eighth in the latest Associated Press poll.
Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety,
announced earlier this week that between 65 and 70 troopers and officers from
the highway patrol and commercial transportation enforcement division would be
in Oxford to "maintain a highly visible and proactive presence through the
conclusion of the weekend." The operation also will include a helicopter and a
mobile command center to coordinate surveillance of the scene, not for a
specific threat but rather to be proactive.
Louisiana State Police have sent 15 officers to work with Mississippi law
enforcement, Tindell said, to help ensure safe and efficient transportation and
operations for LSU's traveling party.
Oxford police, which have six horses for officers on mounted patrol, will
increase that on Saturday to at least 10 officers with outside help from police
in Mobile, Alabama, according to Oxford police spokesman Breck Jones.
___
Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here, visit the Top 25 here and see AP's full
college football coverage here.
|