NFL hires Pennsylvania police chief for security job

7/9/2008

NEW YORK - The NFL hired Pennsylvania's state police chief for a new position that will cover all aspects of stadium security from fan behavior to signal stealing.

But Col. Jeffrey Miller, who begins work as director of strategic security Aug. 18, said yesterday there was far more to the job than ensuring no repeat of the episode last year involving the New England Patriots.

"I think it's safe to say that the league is obviously sensitive to any issue which could affect the integrity of the product that they put out on the field," Miller said at a news conference in Harrisburg, Pa. "Obviously, I wasn't in the room when they worked this all out, but it is a new security director position and it's going to cross over a number of different areas."

Those areas will include overseeing pregame security screening, initiated by the league after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as well as fan behavior, an area commissioner Roger Goodell stressed last spring at the annual league meeting.

The league has been trying to get beyond Spygate since last September after a team employee was caught taping the New York Jets' signals in the season opener. Goodell fined New England coach Bill Belichick $500,000 and the team $250,000 and took away a first-round draft choice.

The issue, however, persisted. Sen. Arlen Specter suggested that Philadelphia Eagles and Pittsburgh Steelers might have been at a disadvantage in postseason games against New England, including the 2005 Super Bowl, when the Patriots beat the Eagles. The Pennsylvania Republican did not drop the issue until last month.

HALL/DIERDORF: Dan Dierdorf is the winner of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's Pete Rozelle Radio-Television Award.

The award is given annually by the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Dierdorf will receive the honor for "longtime exceptional contributions to radio and television in professional football" on Aug. 1.

Dierdorf played 13 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals (1971-1983) and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1996. The former NFL All-Pro tackle had been a play-by-play announcer for CBS Sports' NFL broadcasts in 1985 before switching to color analysis in 1986.

After serving as an analyst for ABC Sports' "Monday Night Football" for more than a decade beginning in 1987, he returned to CBS Sports in 1999 as a game analyst.

RAIDERS/WALKER: Las Vegas police say they've made a second arrest in the robbery and beating of NFL player Javon Walker.

Police say 40-year-old Deshawn Thomas was arrested Monday in Las Vegas on kidnapping, robbery and conspiracy charges.

He is accused of beating and robbing the Oakland Raiders wide receiver June 16, and leaving him unconscious on a side street near the Las Vegas Strip.

Thomas was being held without bail pending an appearance in Las Vegas Justice Court.