Safer Cities

Smarter, safer cities enhance quality of life through intelligence and awareness

Safe City initiatives are a great way to build an efficient, proactive security posture to enhance safety and propel increased collaboration between city officials, security leaders, law enforcement and first responders. Cooperation, including public-private alliances, allows cities to identify current threats while learning and analyzing data points to address future risks. Safe City initiatives help cities achieve accurate situational awareness by aggregating a large amount of data and turning it into valuable information, which enables officials to identify threats, manage emergency situations and investigate incidents.

As modern cities grow, officials require more effective and efficient intelligence-gathering processes. However, some metropolitan areas do not have the proper technology to gather valuable safety information while others attempt to cope with an overwhelming amount of data from hundreds of different sensors.

There are many benefits of Safe City initiatives, and this article outlines the most prominent reasons why cities, regions, and states can benefit from Safe City efforts and covers the best methods to achieve increased levels of awareness along the way.

Security Intelligence

Advanced, intelligent systems and sensors are used in cities across the globe to capture a wide array of information. Data obtained from Internet of Things devices, social media, and the Web, as well as video surveillance cameras help ensure safety and optimize operations. But the amount of data collected today can be overwhelming. Cities need methods to transform raw data into valuable insight—only then can they reach more informed, intelligent decisions. Data analysis helps operators make sense of a wide variety of information sources to proactively detect risk and activate efficient response.

Efficient Data Management

By grouping data sources together, security command centers receive a unified and comprehensive view of safety and operations across a region, allowing rapid identification of issues or trends. Security management and situational awareness solutions fuse information together and present it in a unified manner to allow operators to quickly determine what is happening at any given time. Comprehensive security intelligence is achieved, which drives informed risk mitigation efforts.

Streamlined Communication

Centralized command centers need to quickly disseminate vital communications to help responders and citizens remain alert and aware. With mobile communications, operators can issue announcements and warnings via smart device applications. Command- and-control centers can interface with law enforcement, using real-time communications for efficient dispatch and distribution of information to guide forces in the field. This level of communication gives authorities the ability to collaborate with security command centers.

Citizen Engagement

A driving force behind every Safe City initiative is citizen engagement. Each person is a walking sensor that can report on security threats and share valuable input. With the rise of smart phone use across the globe, users can capture high-definition photos and videos. In an emergency situation, data from citizens proves to be valuable in gathering pieces of the puzzle to aid officials in effective response. A centralized platform can be used to capture reports, photos, videos, and other data, to then combine with existing information, to enhance evidence collection and accelerate investigations.

Traffic Management

An enhanced level of awareness also benefits city officials in areas beyond security, such as traffic management. Cities face an incredible number of threats that have the potential to impact daily operations, including terrorism and crime, severe weather and more. Throughout the city, existing traffic cameras are used with video analytics for real-time data and forensic searches. Analytics can detect and track car paths on video footage and alert officials to suspicious movements or abnormal behavior. By setting pre-defined rules, cities can extract valuable information about traffic and take appropriate action; for example, diverting traffic based on congestion levels or warning drivers of a traffic obstacle ahead.

Actionable Intelligence

Ultimately, situational awareness in Safe City applications is about receiving incoming data, analyzing it, and turning it into actionable information. Examining large data sets delivers a broad range of benefits, allowing cities to uncover hidden patterns, unknown correlations, risk trends, resident conversations, and other useful information.

Stakeholders can gain insights that help city officials anticipate, respond, and quickly take action. With the amount and types of structured and unstructured data rapidly growing, the process of understanding how data affects ongoing security efforts is critical.

Safe and Smart Cities: The Big Picture

Intelligence drives today’s modern Safe City. Comprehensive analysis of data allows operators to identify patterns and detect risks early. Operators can pinpoint threats or suspicious activity, adding value to the big picture, and gain valuable forensic evidence to aid in investigations and prosecution. Cities experience stronger security operations, optimized emergency management, improved security and a stronger quality of life for area residents.

Overall, these efforts can contribute to improving safety and operational efficiencies, as well as the public’s overall experience. Armed with an advanced level of situational awareness, cities achieve several important goals, including improved service to citizens and maximized the quality of life.

This article originally appeared in the May 2017 issue of Security Today.

Featured

  • Creating More Versatility

    Today, AI has become top of mind for most security professionals. It is the topic of conversation in the technology world and continues to transform the way data is used to make important business decisions. Read Now

  • Report: 78 Percent of CISOs Seeing Significant Impact from AI-Powered Cyber Threats

    Darktrace recently unveiled its 2025 State of AI Cybersecurity report. The findings reveal that 78% of Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) surveyed say that AI-powered threats are having a significant impact on their organizations, a 5% increase1 from 2024. While an increasing number of CISOs report feeling a significant impact from AI threats, more than 60% now say that they are adequately prepared to defend against these threats, an increase of nearly 15% year-over-year. However, insufficient AI knowledge and skills and a shortage of personnel and talent continue to be listed as the two top inhibitors to a successful defense. Read Now

  • Teaching AI New Tricks

    You have probably heard that AI-enabled security cameras are evolving the role of traditional surveillance cameras, shifting the focus from passive monitoring to active problem-solving and operational insights. AI technology changes fast, so what is new can be considered old news in just a few months. Read Now

  • From the Most Visible to the Less Apparent

    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) states “There are 16 critical infrastructure sectors whose assets, systems, and networks, whether physical or virtual, are considered so vital to the United States that their incapacitation or destruction would have a debilitating effect on security, national economic security, and national public health or safety or any combination thereof.” Read Now

New Products

  • Hanwha QNO-7012R

    Hanwha QNO-7012R

    The Q Series cameras are equipped with an Open Platform chipset for easy and seamless integration with third-party systems and solutions, and analog video output (CVBS) support for easy camera positioning during installation. A suite of on-board intelligent video analytics covers tampering, directional/virtual line detection, defocus detection, enter/exit, and motion detection.

  • ComNet CNGE6FX2TX4PoE

    The ComNet cost-efficient CNGE6FX2TX4PoE is a six-port switch that offers four Gbps TX ports that support the IEEE802.3at standard and provide up to 30 watts of PoE to PDs. It also has a dedicated FX/TX combination port as well as a single FX SFP to act as an additional port or an uplink port, giving the user additional options in managing network traffic. The CNGE6FX2TX4PoE is designed for use in unconditioned environments and typically used in perimeter surveillance.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.