Tackling Risk

Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY STEPHANIE SILK

           

“Our Firetide wireless video surveillance system considerably increases the Phoenix Police Department's situational awareness, response time and ability to protect the public,” says Chris Jensen, a detective in the city's Drug Enforcement Bureau. “Before we had this system, an incident around the corner could easily escalate into a larger problem before it was even detected. With 360-degree cameras, trained operators are able see incidents as they occur.”

Preparing for Super Bowl XLII, police officers surveyed locations where cameras were to be installed, needing only a power source and a Firetide mesh node to transmit the live video feed above the hundreds of thousands of anticipated city guests. The installation was done in a matter of weeks.

“Nowhere is this safety more critical than at a major event such as this football game, involving crowds in the thousands,” says Bo Larsson, CEO of Firetide.

Elsewhere being used to bolster security was Remotec-produced robots. Remotec Inc., a subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Corp., Los Angeles, assisted security for the game by supporting robots provided by multiple agencies, including the Arizona Department of Public Safety; Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms; and the Mesa, Scottsdale, Tempe, Glendale and Phoenix police departments.

These mobile robotic systems are used in applications including those that are undesirable, hazardous and potentially life-threatening environments. The hazardous duty robots detect and defeat a wide array of explosives and other hazardous materials. Northrop Grumman assisted more than 800 officers from numerous agencies in patrolling a two-square mile security zone around the stadium.

“[We were there] to support the event and hopefully go unnoticed by fans. Our job isn't to be a disruption but to keep danger at a distance,'' says Mack Barber, president of Remotec.

Security personnel have to be protected too, and NovaTracker, Cranford, N.J., helped with that by providing Super Bowl security with its GPS/wireless tracking device, GuardTrax SFL (Security Force Locator).

These 6-oz. devices monitor, track and manage security personnel in “real-time” via the Internet, which may speed up security incident response times. GuardTrax uses a GPS antenna and GSM wireless communication to pinpoint location and activity data. The data is combined with mapping and satellite imagery software that is accurate to within several feet.

It has an incident reporting system that uses a multi-function button-coding system. These coded incident reports, together with the location, time, date and other critical incident location data, are received by the GuardTrax server where they are relayed from field personnel to supervisors and managers via e-mail or text message.

“Rather than try to talk over thousands of screaming fans, a security officer punches in a simple three-digit incident code that, in seconds, notifies supervisors of an EMS emergency, fan altercation or any one of 23 different incidents relating to security issues,” says Mike Petty, senior vice president of sales at NovaTracker.

“There certainly weren't any guards sleeping at this game,” he says.

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