Safe city – integrating the various elements of the community together for safety and security

Our increased awareness to threats, both locally and globally, has called for an increased response to counter those threats. In a time where the serenity of populations in the big cities of the world is violated by actions of violent groups be they of criminal or terror origin and the feeling of personal security is lost there is a need to increase the ability of government to enforce a sense of security in the citizens of these cities.

Many communities have grown and as such, have a growing infrastructure to protect. Transportation, tourism, hospitals, airports, universities, and recreational facilities represent revenue into the community and benefits for the citizens of the communities, but also represent growing challenges for safety and security.

Amongst the factors posing threats to public security we can note the following:

  • Terror organizations
  • Organized crime
  • Street violence of anarchists Public disobedience
  • Violence due to socio-economic rifts

The demand by the public, fed up with the loss of personal safety has led law enforcement management to design the concept of an integrated safe community. The safe city concept is aimed at supplying initial information and alerting on criminal and terrorist activities in real time.

The solution

In an effort to reduce violence on one hand and to provide a better sense of security on the other, decision makers had two main options to decide from:

  1. To substantially increase the number of security personnel on the streets in order to alert and to deter from any violent action be it terror or crime.
  2. Make use of technologies that have been in use from public sectors in order to reduce the number of security personnel roaming the streets and to provide means with which to alert in real time on the development of security issues that might harm the public.

It is clear that in today’s political and financial climate, that financial constraints will lead to a situation in which it is nearly impossible to protect all the goals in the city at all times. This has lead decision makers to decide between two main options:

  1. To carry out operations sporadically and through breaking of routine at selected sites
  2. Harness technologies into the security array dedicated to thwarting and deflecting attacks even though this path may inflict harm on certain civil rights such as anonymity of civilians in the face of the government.

Operational analysis and inclusion of civilians in the design of such programs enables devising a concept that gives an operational and time efficient solution for both criminal and terrorist activities while inflicting as least damage as possible to civil rights.

Security concept

The modern security concept is based on the following points:

  1. Mapping of areas prone to criminal and terrorist activities: e.g. government infrastructure, embassies, soft targets that host large crowds, recreational areas, sports stadiums, etc…
  2. Analysis of the criminal and security routine of these selected areas
  3. Lesson learning process from criminal and terrorist activities in areas such as these from around the world.
  4. Integration of technologies into the selected areas
  5. Design of a concept that allows for the information collected by the technological means to be distributed to the relevant security deployment
  6. Design and building of command and control rooms to manage the combined security activities
  7. Design of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and training of forces and civilian parties who will be part of the full deployment of the safe city concept
  8. Monitoring and control of access roads and other means of access to the selected sites under supervision.

Summary

The safe city concept, integrating technologies and know-how together with existing security deployments has proven itself in many cases creating a comprehensive solution based on a holistic formula.
We would also like to validate the importance of incorporating representatives from the community from the planning and design stages as their cooperation is an essential part of making such projects success stories.

Obtaining agreement among community stakeholders is a matter of helping to visualize the benefits of what this type of architecture can do for the community.  What’s in it for me? How it can prevent security-related events and crime, better enable the policing community to perform their duties, and provide for a safer and more secure environment.

Whether it’s providing Command and Control information to battlefield commanders or helping prosecute shoplifting in a retail store, information is the key. As important as information is to the protection of people and infrastructure, too much information, irrelevant, or untimely information can actually inhibit those in the safety and security business from an effective response.  Experience also tells us that if the systems that are put in place to provide the information are too complex to operate or require too much time to obtain meaningful results, then those systems will be ignored and unused.

As described in this paper, safe city projects are mostly defined as complex projects which include a multitude of variables to be factored upon. The decision on the depth and scope of a project can only be decided after preliminary meetings and site visits in which the needs of the city’s management are mapped out. It should be noted that from our experience each safe city project is different from its predecessor thus custom tailoring solutions for each city and its specific needs.

Co-Authored by:

Mr. Asaf Talmon – Mr. Talmon served 12-years term in the Dignitary Protection Unit (DPU) of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA). Mr. Talmon has years of Experience in facilities protection – both assessment and risk management the three   crucial factors: Building; Technologies and Human resources according to international standards; tailoring a complete solution suit from the stages of problem Definition and threats & risk assessment through choosing an optimal solution out of the variety Of options available. asaf@lotansecurity.com

Mr. Oded Raz – Oded Raz, is a former senior ranking security official of the Israeli Security Agency (ISA). His most recent position with the ISA was as deputy head of the protection and security division. Mr. Raz advises clients on strategic tactics for security preparedness and assists companies in both identifying alternative uses for technologies to enhance homeland security defense and integrating them into the security marketplace. oded@lotansecurity.com

Mr. Dotan Sagi (Co-CEO Lotan Security) – Served a 13 years term in the El-Al Airlines security department, in his last position Mr. Sagi served as the head of the instruction and training department for El-Al security. In that position he was responsible for the management of the school of aviation security, among other things. dotan@lotansecurity.com

 

 

 

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17 Responses to Safe city – integrating the various elements of the community together for safety and security

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  12. Tabatha Null says:

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  14. Interesting point of view. Wondering what you think of it’s implication on society as a whole though? There are times when things like this begin to have global expansion and frustration. I’ll check back to see what you have to say.

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