Between Lions playoff, Pistons at LCA, and Detroit auto show, police expect 100,000 on Saturday

Detroit police in for a busy weekend

With the Lions, the auto show, and the Pistons all in town this weekend, Detroit will be buzzing with fans for all three main events. Here is how police will approach security.

(FOX 2) - Between the auto show and the Pistons game, and the Lions-Commanders playoff game at Ford Field, Detroit police expect a massive surge of people to be downtown for the action on Saturday.

To accommodate the surge in visitors coming this weekend, law enforcement say they will use a "layered approach" to keeping people safe and ensuring things run smoothly.

That includes having a bolstered presence in the heart of Detroit while keeping the outskirts safe as well.

What they're saying:

"We'll be supporting the entire city, not just downtown," said Matthew Fulgenzi, the third precinct commander.

Much like when the NFL Draft came to town, local police will be coordinating with all levels of law enforcement during the busy Saturday night.

There will also be K-9 units, aerial police resources, and undercover officers staged around Ford Field, Little Caesars Arena, and Huntington Place.

Fulgenzi said police are approaching the busy day with the potential for all kinds of threats, especially after the terrorist attack in New Orleans on New Year's Day.

Third precinct commander Matthew Fulgenzi

"Undercover officers that you won't see assisting, providing real-time information, and then leveraging the real-time crime center - the finest in the United States," he said.

The analysts inside the center, which was a key resource during the draft, will be monitoring cameras around downtown and feeding information back to officers.

By the numbers:

Ford Field can hold around 65,000 people, while LCA can hold another 20,000 people.

Combined with the Detroit Auto Show at Huntington Place and the various bars where fans will be watching all the action, police predict around 100,000 people to be downtown.

That isn't close to the NFL Draft, which brought in 700,000 people across a three-day period.

Backup inbound:

But hosting the event allowed for valuable experience for the city and its police department, and Fulgenzi said they will approach the busy weekend in much the same way.

"You'll see a number of barricades throughout downtown, we've had assistance from a number of agencies outside the city of Detroit that have been a great partner to us, that have loaned us additional (officers)," he said.

Detroit Police are leading the strategy, but will get assistance from Michigan State Police, the FBI, as well as the sheriffs' departments from Wayne, Oakland, and Macomb counties.