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By Tre Shuttlesworth, Assistant News Editor The Institute for Lifelong Learning hosted the Washington Nationals’ Scott Fear to discuss his newly acquired role of vice president of public safety and security within the organization.
The lecture took place at 11:30 a.m. on Nov. 20. in Degenstein Theater. Fear gave a personal background on his professional career with the United States Park Police (USPP) and Major League Baseball, while discussing the challenges of his security positions in professional sports and his role in safety enactments at Nationals Park.
Fear started the lecture by discussing the beginning of his law enforcement and security career. He started serving as a federal law enforcement officer with the USPP in 1990, holding a variety of rules in the organization during his 29-year tenure.
Networking would lead him to his part-time position with Major League Baseball in 2007, beginning his time as a resident security agent.
His time on leave from the USPP gave him the chance to enjoy a new work environment, utilizing his abilities mostly at Nationals Park for the MLB. He was responsible for security checks, meeting with players and umpires before games and coordinating with local police forces.
Fear reported on other issues for MLB, such as reporting violations of uniform conduct. His goals as an RSA were very simple: “I want this to be a family event.
I want to make sure everyone has fun and [that] no one gets injured.” Fear’s position allowed him to build strong relationships with umpires and players who enjoyed the outside perspective of something working for Major League Baseball as opposed to the Nationals organization.
One strong relationship Fera developed was with former commissioner of baseball Bud Selig, acting as a personal security detail for some events with Selig.
His time with MLB also gave him international experience as he worked security for the organization at the World Baseball Classic in Australia.
After a decade with the MLB, Fear retired from both the USPP and MLB to take on the full time position of vice president of public safety and security in November 2018.
While Fear has only been with the Nationals since 2018, he has been at the head of several key safety and security changes with the organization during the 2019 season.
Fear has played a role in instituting a no backpack policy, extending netting and enacting team travel and security since starting with the Nationals. 2019 was the first year that the Nationals implemented a no backpack policy, making them second team in the league to implement this.
Fear had to respond to media backlash to the safety measure in the early weeks of the season. His time with the USPP made him prepared to face this criticism.
“The Nationals loved that I wasn’t afraid of a camera,” Fear said. Fear was shocked by the high number of injuries to fans via foul balls at Nationals Park.
In the first two months of the season, seven fans were injured with foul balls. “I’m all about the traditions of baseball,” Fear said. “But when I was meeting with these kids that were getting hit with broken noses and broken jaws…I couldn’t believe it.”
An incident that critically injured a young girl in Chicago prompted the Chicago White Sox and Washington Nationals to enact extend netting after the All-Star Break, creating a much safer environment for spectators.
The team is now one of nine teams in the league with team-travel security, with 2019 being the first season that the Nationals have a travel security team. Fear hopes to bump up the part-time travel security to full-time for 2020 since it can now be incorporated this into the organization’s budget.
