Page 20 - Security Today, April 2020

Making Cities Smarter Urban population is posing new set of complex security challenges
BAy Bob Carter
ccording to several predications, urban areas will see a population increase of 2.5 billion people by 2050. When combined with the rise of smart and connected cities, this growth in urban population is posing a new
set of complex security and safety challenges to city administra- tors, urban planners, municipal governments and businesses alike. How can they put systems and processes in place that keep
the population safe – while not restricting growth, commerce or the flow of daily life? How do expansive metropoles like Tokyo, the largest city in the world, maintain safety while allowing their population to flourish?
The Role of Technology
When it comes to enhancing public safety, and maintaining se- curity, having a complete view of your environment is critical. A unified solution that provides a common operating picture en- hances situational awareness and allows better planning, detec- tion, response and prevention of incidents. These types of sys- tems combine public safety data and technology tools to bolster situation awareness.
Unified data and sensor visualization platforms offer cities the tools they can use to improve overall public safety. And if they choose a provider that offers the latest in technology, this solu- tion will make the city both safe and smart. A unified system consolidates data from a variety of public and private sources to enhance the overview for dispatchers and emergency respond- ers so they can make insight-driven decisions. By reviewing data, institutions can make predictive changes to the allocation and de- ployment of resources to improve and create best practices, plan for the worst, determine any weak spots and shore up defenses.
Cities need a solution that can allow public organizations to work closely with law enforcement to develop an emergency response plan where video surveillance streams and other data from IoT sensors can be correlated, analyzed and shared quickly with relevant parties. Specifically, these unified systems can de- liver the capability to improve traffic and mobility operations. For example, when you combine traffic systems with video sur- veillance, it can help law enforcement better coordinate incident response. This scenario would allow responders to better spot incidents, communicate detours and respond faster – resulting in smoother traffic flow and happier citizens.
Communication is Critical
Cities are made up of a diverse and complex mix of institutions, ecosystems and infrastructure that are interconnected. This means that disruption to one part of the system can cause failure in other parts with far reaching implications. This makes assess- ing public safety an extremely challenging task. A key factor in improving public safety and security in cities is open communica- tion channels between the institutions and stakeholders operat- ing within it. In this way, when an incident does occur, they can coordinate effort to get it resolved as quickly as possible.
“Unified data and sensor visualization platforms offer cities the tools they can use to improve overall public safety.”
the devastation was a vital highway that was left completely de- stroyed by the subsequent earthquake. Amazingly, emergency re- sponders managed to coordinate an effective strategy and repair the highway in a mere six days.
However, this is often not the case and stakeholders fail to col- laborate with one another. When business leaders, city planners, municipal infrastructure leaders, fire departments and law en- forcement end up working in silos, it ultimately leads to a break- down of communication, missed opportunities and inefficiencies.
This gap in coordination and communication grows wider when jurisdictional boundaries come in to play. These issues be- come more apparent when silos turn into blind-spots that crimi- nals can exploit, leaving a city, the metro region and its popula- tion more at risk.
Therefore, increasing communications and sharing data across the private and public sectors should be a priority as it will improve public safety for everyone. For instance, the city of Detroit managed to curb its violent crime rate by 50 percent in re- cent years with “Project Greenlight.” The opt-in initiative enables registered local businesses to share real-time footage from their security cameras with the Detroit Police Department, giving law enforcement better coverage of the area and local businesses the peace of mind that police could quickly be on the scene should an incident occur.
This collaboration improved crime rates by shortening re-
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For instance, when a tsunami struck Japan in 2011, among
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