There are few countries in the world with such a heavy police presence as the United States.
The photos in question today surfaced a few years ago on social media following 2012’s Super Bowl XLVI at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
A crowd of 70,000 fans descended on the country’s biggest sporting event without knowing they were constantly being watched by SWAT snipers perched high above them in what is referred to as a “nest.”
The photos, which were swiftly removed following some public backlash, show an Indianapolis SWAT sniper manning a custom-built Remington M700 in an XLR Industries chassis perched on an Alamo Four Star DCLW tripod.
Despite catching some naive commentators off guard, this practice isn’t an uncommon occurrence at large-scale events, with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones even confirming to CNN that he purposefully built his new stadium with several sniper’s nests installed from the outset.
On this occasion, it was confirmed that police spotters used binoculars and not their rifle scopes to watch the crowd… though the weapon was on hand should it have been needed to eliminate quick threats.
