New York Safety Officials Collaborate to Secure Large-Scale Events

New York Safety Officials Collaborate to Secure Large-Scale Events

Safety officials from the Oswego area are collaborating to increase security for large-scale events

Public safety officials are collaborating to increase security infrastructure at large public events in Oswego, N.Y.

According to police and fire officials, the Harborfest in July will feature increased security measures for the tens of thousands of attendees.

Oswego Fire Department Chief Randy Griffin and Deputy Chief Justin Norfleet said they’re working to implement strategies learned from an on-site collaboration with Chicago emergency operatives preparing for the city’s annual marathon last October. Emergency officials in Chicago recruited members of the emergency management communities of Oswego and Houston, Texas, to help them with planning and response.

“There are things we can learn from a large-scale event like the Chicago Marathon to things we’re doing here locally,” Norfleet said.

Griffin said the experience with Chicago was “invaluable.”

“I approached [Norfleet] late last summer and said a colleague of mine, who is the deputy director for emergency management for the city of Chicago, offered us an opportunity to come and help with the planning process for the Chicago Marathon,” Griffin said. “I thought it would be a good idea to see how other cities manage incidents and large events.”

Norfleet was able to get an inside look at the security infrastructure protecting the 45,000 participants and 1.7 million spectators at the marathon, including the aid stations and the Emergency Operations Center (EOC). The EOC housed a team of health and safety professionals responding to calls.

According to Norfleet, one crucial point he took away was how Oswego events could benefit from similar operating centers using existing equipment, if the public safety and municipal staff could collaborate.

“Here’s one of the takeaways — it doesn’t have to be fancy. [The EOC] is a tent with table, phones and masking tape,” Norfleet said.

The police and fire departments already share communication, but an EOC would provide a single operating station for their crew members during an event.

“Does an operations center for an event have to be super fancy and high tech? No,” Norfleet said. “There are things you need. You need phones, you need some kind of data connection and a TV.”

Norfleet said public safety officers will set up markers around Oswego, allowing anyone calling emergency responders to identify their exact location using an alphanumeric labeling system.

A police and operations center staffed by fire police and law enforcement would oversee the event using surveillance technology, including camera monitors with GPS tracking abilities.

“It’s people in chairs with laptops communication devices,” Norfleet said. “It’s problem solving with people all in the room.”

According to Griffin, the fire department is working with the Oswego County Department of Planning and Community Development to create a Geospatial Information System (GIS), a digital topographical map allowing the user to interact with their environment in real time.

“The idea would be i can take a map of the city of Oswego...and I would be able to see where all the chemicals are stored in the city. If the wind is blowing in this direction, who would be affected by that? Instead of reading that in a narrative format, I’m actually seeing it geospatially,” Griffin said.

GIS would let public safety officials access public and private surveillance cameras if they use digital technology, Griffin said, though it’s not clear when they would be able to implement this, he added.

Featured

  • New Report Reveals Top Trends Transforming Access Controller Technology

    Mercury Security, a provider in access control hardware and open platform solutions, has published its Trends in Access Controllers Report, based on a survey of over 450 security professionals across North America and Europe. The findings highlight the controller’s vital role in a physical access control system (PACS), where the device not only enforces access policies but also connects with readers to verify user credentials—ranging from ID badges to biometrics and mobile identities. With 72% of respondents identifying the controller as a critical or important factor in PACS design, the report underscores how the choice of controller platform has become a strategic decision for today’s security leaders. Read Now

  • Overwhelming Majority of CISOs Anticipate Surge in Cyber Attacks Over the Next Three Years

    An overwhelming 98% of chief information security officers (CISOs) expect a surge in cyber attacks over the next three years as organizations face an increasingly complex and artificial intelligence (AI)-driven digital threat landscape. This is according to new research conducted among 300 CISOs, chief information officers (CIOs), and senior IT professionals by CSC1, the leading provider of enterprise-class domain and domain name system (DNS) security. Read Now

  • ASIS International Introduces New ANSI-Approved Investigations Standard

    • Guard Services
  • Cloud Security Alliance Brings AI-Assisted Auditing to Cloud Computing

    The Cloud Security Alliance (CSA), the world’s leading organization dedicated to defining standards, certifications, and best practices to help ensure a secure cloud computing environment, today introduced an innovative addition to its suite of Security, Trust, Assurance and Risk (STAR) Registry assessments with the launch of Valid-AI-ted, an AI-powered, automated validation system. The new tool provides an automated quality check of assurance information of STAR Level 1 self-assessments using state-of-the-art LLM technology. Read Now

  • Report: Nearly 1 in 5 Healthcare Leaders Say Cyberattacks Have Impacted Patient Care

    Omega Systems, a provider of managed IT and security services, today released new research that reveals the growing impact of cybersecurity challenges on leading healthcare organizations and patient safety. According to the 2025 Healthcare IT Landscape Report, 19% of healthcare leaders say a cyberattack has already disrupted patient care, and more than half (52%) believe a fatal cyber-related incident is inevitable within the next five years. Read Now

New Products

  • 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.

  • A8V MIND

    A8V MIND

    Hexagon’s Geosystems presents a portable version of its Accur8vision detection system. A rugged all-in-one solution, the A8V MIND (Mobile Intrusion Detection) is designed to provide flexible protection of critical outdoor infrastructure and objects. Hexagon’s Accur8vision is a volumetric detection system that employs LiDAR technology to safeguard entire areas. Whenever it detects movement in a specified zone, it automatically differentiates a threat from a nonthreat, and immediately notifies security staff if necessary. Person detection is carried out within a radius of 80 meters from this device. Connected remotely via a portable computer device, it enables remote surveillance and does not depend on security staff patrolling the area.

  • AC Nio

    AC Nio

    Aiphone, a leading international manufacturer of intercom, access control, and emergency communication products, has introduced the AC Nio, its access control management software, an important addition to its new line of access control solutions.