91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Watch CBS News
Local News

Miami Beach Police beefs up security during College Football Playoff National Championship weekend

By
Steve Maugeri
Steve Maugeri
Steve Maugeri joined the CBS News Miami team in April 2024. Steve has always loved the beach and is excited to live this close to the ocean within a major city as well!
Read Full Bio
Steve Maugeri

/ CBS Miami

Tens of thousands of fans are expected to come to South Beach before the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday.

And, the Miami Beach Police Department has been beefing up security for months in preparation, giving CBS News Miami an inside look at how its officers are working to keep everyone safe.

Grant McBride is in town to watch his Indiana Hoosiers potentially make history. He told CBS News Miami he has been to South Beach before and is glad police are visible.

"Makes you feel comfortable, but I've never really felt unsafe before," McBride said.

Police escorts were in place as players got on and off the team buses at the convention center. Miami Hurricanes fan Oscar is from South Florida and said he's seen policing evolve on South Beach.

"I think that has changed and significantly, police are doing well to uphold security in the city," Oscar told CBS News Miami.

Miami Beach Police have made investments in technology over the past few years. Police told CBS News Miami that weekends like this are why they have it in place.

"Our team for months now has been preparing for this weekend," said Public Information Officer Christopher Bess of Miami Beach Police.

Bess said every officer will work the weekend, adding that the department's real-time intelligence center will be used by centralizing all of the city's surveillance camera feeds. 

"We are utilizing over 1,000 cameras citywide to ensure our detectives don't miss anything," he said. "But also to serve as operational support for the boots on the ground."

On top of that, police have a new drone that can scan the beach and any area with dense foot traffic. 

"That's actually the roof of our headquarter so Eagle One is being deployed from our roof," Bess said.

Oscar told CBS News Miami these measures are why he's comfortable going to the beach with big crowds. 

"Yeah, I think we're pretty much safe there," he said.

Miami Beach Police Chief Wayne Jones has said his goal is to have every public space in the city covered with a camera.

In:

© 2026 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
const link = doc.createElement('link'); link.rel = 'stylesheet'; link.href = '/fly/fly/bundles/cbsnewscontent/css/cmp-banner.min.css?v=296763317a51cab90faa73f1bb146d5c'; doc.head.appendChild(link); doc.body.innerHTML = CONSENT_MESSAGE; } else { el.insertAdjacentHTML('afterend', CONSENT_MESSAGE); } }); } function hidePrivacyMessage() { // Remove from the main document document.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); // Remove from inside any iframes document.querySelectorAll('iframe').forEach(iframe => { const doc = iframe.contentDocument || iframe.contentWindow.document; doc.querySelectorAll(`.${CONSENT_MESSAGE_CLASS}`).forEach(el => el.remove()); }); } function activateGatedScripts() { // Handle both new format (cmp-gated-script) and old OneTrust/Ketch format (optanon-category-4) const gatedScripts = Array.from(document.querySelectorAll('script.cmp-gated-script, script.optanon-category-4')); // Activate scripts sequentially with a small delay to avoid timing issues let delay = 0; gatedScripts.forEach(function(placeholder, index) { setTimeout(function() { // Skip if already processed if (placeholder.hasAttribute('data-cmp-processed')) { return; } placeholder.setAttribute('data-cmp-processed', 'true'); const newScript = document.createElement('script'); newScript.type = 'text/javascript'; // Try new format first (data-cmp-src), then fall back to old format (data-src) const src = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-src') || placeholder.getAttribute('data-src'); if (src) { newScript.src = src; } else if (placeholder.textContent) { // Inline script - just copy the content newScript.textContent = placeholder.textContent; } // Handle new format attributes (data-cmp-attrs) - for both inline and external scripts const attrs = placeholder.getAttribute('data-cmp-attrs'); if (attrs) { const tempDiv = document.createElement('div'); tempDiv.innerHTML = '
<\/div>'; const tempAttrs = tempDiv.firstChild.attributes; for (let i = 0; i < tempAttrs.length; i++) { // For external scripts, allow defer/async. For inline scripts, skip them (not valid) if (src || (tempAttrs[i].name !== 'async' && tempAttrs[i].name !== 'defer')) { newScript.setAttribute(tempAttrs[i].name, tempAttrs[i].value); } } } // Copy other attributes from old OneTrust format for (let i = 0; i < placeholder.attributes.length; i++) { const attr = placeholder.attributes[i]; // Skip attributes we've already handled or don't want to copy if (!['class', 'data-src', 'data-type', 'data-cmp-src', 'data-cmp-attrs', 'data-cmp-processed', 'type', 'async', 'defer', 'src'].includes(attr.name)) { newScript.setAttribute(attr.name, attr.value); } } placeholder.parentNode.replaceChild(newScript, placeholder); // If external script, manually trigger window.onload handlers after it loads // This handles widgets that use window.onload for initialization if (src) { newScript.addEventListener('load', function() { // If page already loaded and script set a new onload handler, trigger it if (document.readyState === 'complete' && window.onload) { const originalOnload = window.onload; window.onload = null; // Clear temporarily to prevent loops originalOnload(); // Execute the handler } }); } }, delay); delay += 500; // 500ms delay between each script to allow full loading }); } cbsoptanon.onScriptsReady(function(cmp) { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (!allowed) { showPrivacyMessage(); } else { activateGatedScripts(); } }); cmp.ot.awaitInitialConsent(function(consent_model) { cmp.ot.addOnConsentChangedHandler(function() { cmp.ot.targetingAllowed(function(allowed) { if (allowed) { hidePrivacyMessage(); activateGatedScripts(); } else { showPrivacyMessage(); } }); }); }); });