Collaborating to secure Super Bowl 50
It’s that time of year again, when everyone is gearing up for the Super Bowl. This year’s host of the big 50th is the Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, United States. According to a recent article from the San Francisco Times, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security, the lead agencies coordinating Super Bowl security, are taking more precautions than usual for this momentous event.
The article cites, “Federal authorities working out of a joint operations center, in an undisclosed location, will monitor surveillance equipment and police radio traffic while they communicate with officers from dozens of law enforcement agencies, plainclothes agents and tactical teams on the ground.”
The strategy, based on the guidelines of a national program called Incident Command System, has become necessary for lead agencies overseeing massive events. Even with months of planning, large-scale events present a complex situation involving many open areas and facilities and many unknown variables (some which were discussed in last year’s blog leading up to the Super Bowl). Authorities need to be ready for anything.
Centralizing monitoring operations and unifying tactical forces cannot prevent an incident, but this approach can help to ensure that everyone – whether patrolling officers accessing video from their mobile phones, stadium security team watching over Super Bowl visitors, or transportation organizations monitoring inbound traffic – is on the same page at any given moment.
Not too long ago, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) successfully built and operated a unified command post to secure the 2015 Special Olympics World Games (LA2015). The LAPD used Genetec™ Federation™-as-a-Service to pull video from local partners. Commander Dennis Kato, LAPD Planning Group, Special Olympics World Games Organizing Committee, said that Federation “was crucial to the security of the games as it ensured our command post operated efficiently and smoothly.”
Watch this short video on the Federation™ feature to learn more, or check out our Stadiums and Open Spaces web page.