Milton Ahlerich and NFL Security: Goal-Line Stand

Anything can happen at a football game. But Milton Ahlerich, the NFL's VP of security, has sworn to make it safe for players and fans alike.

The security team makes presentations at the rookie symposium and to each team every season to emphasize the basics: If you're going to go out and drink, have a plan. Don't drink and drive. And when a woman says no, put your hands in your pockets and walk away.

The security group hands out a booklet to players and coaches that is chock-full of advice about handling certain situations such as motor vehicle stops ("Never badmouth a police officer"), preventing identity theft ("Purchase a shredder for your home and shred all documents with financial information"), and handling other potential legal problems ("Obtain names, addresses and telephone numbers of witnesses who can corroborate your version of what occurred"). The booklet also includes an off-season checklist of items that players might need to organize, such as driver's license renewals, auto insurance, traffic violations and child support payments. "It's all about prevention for us because we're not very good after the factthat's not where we see our role," says Ahlerich. "Once law enforcement is involved, we're not involved in their defense. That plays out in the courts."

Ahlerich also wants the players to understand that they are targets for all kinds of financial crimesfrom Ponzi schemes (that take in players and their relatives) to identity theft (a huge problem for the NFL). Ed Reynolds, the player assistance liaison and a former player, is on Ahlerich's staff. He spends most of his time arranging background checks and investigations for the players. He will have a background check run on anyone with whom players are considering doing business, on any company in which they are going to invest, and on anyone whom they may employfrom a personal manager to a baby-sitter.

Reynolds makes no specific recommendations to them; he simply lays out whatever information he uncovers. "We've had players defrauded out of tremendous amounts of money by smooth characters and con artists that took them in," says Ahlerich. "We try to talk to [players] a lot about how to avoid these problems, and we're proud of that. We can't prove how many souls we've saved, but we know it's well received."

Identity theft, in particular, has become a significant problem, and league security has had to help many players and NFL senior executives deal with the aftermath. Often these thefts are done online where there's nobody to challenge the criminal's identity. Ahlerich notes that hardly a day goes by in which a team member or employee is not victimized.