LINCOLN - An important part of the game day tradition at Memorial Stadium is keeping fans safe and that’s exactly the goal of the Nebraska State Patrol. It can make for some long days, but it’s an important job and they talked about their routine on game day.

“We get a lot of alcohol related calls, especially for games that are later in the day,” Sgt. Mike Thorson said. “Sometimes we’ll get calls about a missing or vulnerable adult.”

Sgt. Mike Thorson is a state trooper in Lincoln. Thorson says the day begins for state patrol about four hours prior to kickoff, the troopers on duty then caravan to campus, where they have a university security briefing, before making their way into the stadium. Thorson says the days can easily become long.

“I suggest to the guys they get a good pair of shoes, or a comfortable pair of boots,” Thorson said. “The new field turf is nice, it’s a little more comfortable to walk on the field, but it can make for some long days for some guys.”

During the game, when 90,000 people pack Memorial Stadium, troopers can be seen dotting the facility, often showing a blank face. This posture is one of working.

“We’re scanning the crowd, looking for anything out of the ordinary, looking for people drinking alcohol, if we’re working the student section we get a lot of that,” Thorson said. “But, generally, we’re just scanning the crowd making sure everyone appears to be safe.”

It also is a way of properly representing NSP.

“There’s cameras all over this place, these games are on national television, so we like to project a professional image and I remind the guys of that every Saturday,” Thorson said.

When not paying attention to those in the stands, NSP is often keeping on eye on the in-game action and things happening at field level.

“It’s important we know what’s going on on the field as well,” Thorson said. “The guys at field level, we’re generally not just standing there watching the game, but we all have radios and communicate with University of Nebraksa police, so even if we are looking in the field area, we know wheats going on.”