operate as an outer perimeter or a lighter concept
of operations and core screening with a guard-centric
concept of operation.”
Big brother is watching
Threats to stadia and those within it during highprofile
events come in a variety of forms, which means
Canadian-headquartered IoT platform provider
Genetec has to legislate for them all with its systems.
“If we talk about the Olympics, the degree of the
aggression itself is higher and involves more people –
so the main difference will be an increased state of
alert,” says Evgenia Ostrovskaya, business development
director for retail and banking at Genetec. “There’s also
often a lot of temporary security. When we secure a
stadium for a standard event, we know exactly what we
(Above) Evolv Technology’s
Express threat detection system
scans up to 3,600 individuals
per hour to identify weapons
STADIUM SECURITY
want to secure and how we do it. With the Olympics,
the security could be temporary, such as mobile camera
setups, which are a challenge.”
Sometimes the intent isn’t there and a security issue
could be caused innocently, such as overcrowding in
a certain part of the stadium. “It’s important to
understand the footfall of the stadium and we can see
where there are too many people in one corner, for
example, so the system can dynamically send an alarm
to the security operative, who can then re-direct
people,” says Ostrovskaya. “For stadia, one of the most
useful technologies is facial recognition – making it
easier to identify fans who might be a threat. Normally
the stadia will have a list of people and personalities
so when they appear on the stadium pictures they just
won’t be let in, but for events such as the Olympics,
this might not be the case.”
Ostrovskaya admits that, these days, the biggest
threat at major sporting events is terrorism.
“Thankfully, it isn’t a common problem, but it is the
one to be most aware of and prepared for. Although
there are other types of terrorism we see, even attacks
such as food poisoning,” she says. “At the moment, we
can see everything through our camera systems that
can identify aggression and bad behavior. This is one
area where the technology is evolving in the quality
of the images to identify aggression and fighting.”
Access control is another important issue and
Ostrovskaya urges venue to ensure that security cards
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