FIFA: Renton Police to offer security for Belgium team
Published 5:23 pm Thursday, June 11, 2026
The Renton Police Department will be helping with the security operations for the Belgium National team during their stay in the city.
At the June 1 Renton Committee of the Whole meeting, Renton Police Chief Jon Schuldt went over the department’s involvement in security for the World Cup. Schuldt said the police will be providing 24/7 exterior security at the Belgium team’s designated hotel while they stay in Renton, security at the Seattle Sounder’s training facility while the team is practicing and providing escorts for the team when they travel between the hotel, the facilities and the airport for away matches.
Three officers will be stationed at the hotel while the team is there and Schuldt said this extra work will require 500 extra-duty assignments. To help aid with this demand, Renton will be entering an interlocal agreement with the city of Kent and Tukwila to utilize their police force.
“Understanding that we wouldn’t be able to fill all those and continue our level of service to the community. That’s why we asked some outside agencies to assist in filling those extra duty spots,” said Schuldt. “The minimum staffing for Renton patrol and all of our other divisions hasn’t changed during this. We will continue to have our same staffing model throughout this. The same level of service will be there for our community members and not be impacted by any of the other FIFA assignments.”
The costs of extra service will be reimbursed through a federal grant organized through the local World Cup organizing committee in Seattle.
“We made it perfectly clear throughout the planning of this that if it wasn’t going to be funded through that grant, then we weren’t going to be able to provide the services because we knew it wouldn’t be right for the citizens of Renton to bear the burden of funding all the security for FIFA, the team coming in,” Schuldt said.
In addition to providing security for the team, the department will also have a directed enforcement team responsible for the Legacy Square viewing parties scheduled during the World Cup.
“We think we have a pretty good plan in place and judging from those first few, we’ll see what the impact is and how big of crowds we’re looking at, then we can adjust accordingly,” Schuldt said. “If it is having some other kind of negative impact on the community around there then we’ll figure out a way to address that whether it’s through staffing or streets or whatever we need to do.”
The World Cup officially kicks off on June 11 with the first match in Mexico. Belgium will play in the first match at Lumen Field on June 15 against Egypt. The World Cup Final is scheduled for July 19 in Metlife Stadium in New Jersey.
