Secured Cities: Integration Hub for Public Safety

Secured Cities: Integration Hub for Public Safety

Last year I had the privilege of attending the Secured Cities Conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Held at the convention center just a couple short blocks from the Inner Harbor, the conference was touted as primarily focusing on surveillance methods within cities and leveraging the video/images captured to improve the efficiency of response from the appropriate public safety discipline: fire, police or EMS. What I experienced, however, was vastly different from what I expected based on that perception.

What I expected was a show floor full of exhibiting companies that made an assortment of video cameras, some of which would include audio pickups, and all of which had the absolute best solution to any city’s given surveillance need. Beyond that, I expected a few decent classes and presentations on various public safety topics having to do with citywide efforts centered around remote video cameras, etc.

What I found was entirely different and greatly beneficial – especially as in comparison to the time investment involved. I spent two days in Baltimore at the conference and attended a presentation on coordinating response efforts between fire, police and EMS based on video camera imagery PLUS GPS tracking of public safety vehicles PLUS radio inputs from the responders en route. I sat through a class on Active Shooter response training for the true “first responders:” The victims themselves. It was enlightening to learn what the potential victims could do not only to defend themselves, but also to assist the efficiency of the responding officers.

I listened to a speech given by the Police Commissioner of Baltimore and learned about some of the challenges he faces; challenges that he described as similar to those leaders in positions like his but in the other public safety disciplines. I talked with several people who realized that while “Secured Cities” is all too often perceived as a localized or limited effort to leverage a few technologies by one-off entities, what it really is…

Is an effort to efficiently coordinate virtually every level of public safety service and every other state, county or local service that would support such.  What do I mean?  Think about this example:

On Interstate Route 95, which runs up and down the east coast through or around several major cities to include Washington, DC, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York… well, you get the idea. If a major motor vehicle accident occurs on I95 with some kind of hazardous material spillage involved, how many organizations are going to respond? Police to write the traffic report and coordinate removal of the involved vehicles; fire department to put out any fires, render the vehicles safe for transport, and neutralize the spilled hazardous materials; emergency medical services to treat and transport those involved in the accident. That’s all of the public safety disciplines, but who else might show up?

The State Highway Administration (of whatever flavor in your state) would likely show up to manage lane and road closures and reroute traffic as necessary.  If the hazardous material presented any kind of threat to the surrounding area, then agencies for those areas would have to act accordingly (think evacuations). If there are railroad or transit trains that run through or nearby, the agencies managing and policing them would have to be involved.

As I said, what I realized in that two days of Secured Cities conference is that it’s not just about surveillance technology, communication technology, or new programs to resolve specifically targeted issues in small geographic areas. It’s really about efficiently coordinating all public safety threat and crime prevention efforts and then following those up with proper timely response, if the prevention efforts fail, of all necessary public safety responders. It’s NOT just about new technologies or specialized services; it’s about getting everyone working together in a strategic fashion to leverage all available technologies to keep the public safe. THAT is a conference worth attending and learning from.

This year’s Secured Cities Conference is once again being held in Baltimore, November 4 - 6 at the Baltimore Convention Center. Some of the presentation topics scheduled so far include:

  • Leveraging Integrated Security in your plans and designs for a built environment
  • Improvements in the Emergency Alert System for mobile devices
  • Design Best Practices for Wireless Surveillance System Design
  • Security Challenges in a Shipping Channel and how one city (Houston) dealt with it
  • New School Security Model providing multiple layers of protection between classrooms and active shooters.
  • How Virtual Social Spaces are impacting our security practices and behavior
  • And more…

Yes, there is a registration fee. If you register prior to October 3, 2014, the Education admission fee – which includes all the educational sessions and access to the exhibit floor – is $225. Compare that to most commercial training sessions today that run $200+ PER DAY.  There is a great deal of learning and networking that you can do for about half of what a commercial training course would cost. Add another $60 (prior to October 3, 2014) and you can also attend the conference reception, and Innovation Awards Luncheon.

I strongly encourage you to not only attend, but to bring a sergeant (or higher) from your agency with you. The potential benefits are WELL worth the price and I’d certainly enjoy seeing more brother (or sister) cops there!

Visit www.securedcities.com to register today.

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