Public Space, Public Safety
PHOTO © ASPEN PHOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK
School safety became more
complicated last year. “Paris
changed everything,” says Dr. Lou
Marciani, director for the National Center
for Spectator Sports Safety and Security at
The University of Southern Mississippi. He’s
referencing the terrorist events of November
13, 2015, where a highly coordinated effort by
three teams launched six distinct attacks in
the city and northern suburb of Saint-Denis.
One hundred and thirty people were killed
and hundreds more injured. The nature and
severity of this event, where teams attacked
several different venues at once, has altered
the way Marciani and other experts think
about campus security.
Keeping college campuses safe is challenging
enough. Campus police already
deal with all kinds of situations and offenses,
from vandalism and rowdy crowds
to theft and assault. They also reckon with
the rise of the active shooter; an event
that happens once a month, on average,
according to a recent FBI study. Layer a
large public facility like a sports stadium
or a hospital on top of the campus and the
challenges just got greater.
Sports stadiums and hospitals already
come with their own specific security
challenges. Stadiums invite a mass of extra
people onto campus every game time; 104
million fans visit college stadiums each
year in the U.S., according to Marciani. He
reports that many of them never even go in.
Tailgating, he says, has grown into a sport
of its own with numbers of fans partying in
the parking lot, often exceeding the number
of people in the stadium watching the game.
“We’ve done a good job of hardening
facilities like Division I stadiums after the
attacks of 9/11,” he says. However, Paris
teaches him that that’s not enough. “Main
streets, restaurants, transportation hubs
and even parking lots have all become rich
targets,” he says. “The perimeter keeps
getting pushed.”
Hospitals are also dangerous in and of
themselves, particularly the emergency
department. “There has been a marked increase
in behavioral health patients in crisis
utilizing emergency departments,” says
Lisa Terry, CHPA, CPP, director, Hospital
Police and Transportation, University of
North Carolina Healthcare. “This rise has
occurred so quickly that many communities
have been caught unprepared.”
Often these patients must be boarded in
the emergency department for as long as 30 days while waiting for a psych ward bed
to open up. While the behavior of these
patients is neither criminal nor intentional
it is aggressive, dangerous and puts people
at risk, especially health care workers. A
fact sheet put out by the Massachusetts
Nurses Association notes that 86 percent
of that state’s nurses report experiencing
some sort of violence on the job in the past
two years, including being kicked, punched
or having something thrown at them.
Increasing behavioral health incidents
add just another risk to an already
dangerous location. Emotions run high in
hospitals, adding unpredictability to the
mix. “Grief, poor patient outcomes and
tired, overstressed visitors all contribute to
potential risks,” explains Jonathon Wilson,
chief administrative officer, University of
Mississippi Medical Center and former ER
nurse. Wilson also points to rich potential
target areas like nuclear medicine or hospital
pharmacies as security hotspots.
So what’s a school to do? Campus
should be a warm, welcoming environment
where people are safe without
feeling overly policed. That feeling should
extend throughout campus facilities,
including stadiums and hospitals. Luckily
there are technological solutions like
cameras, enhanced communications and
analytics that help.
The Gear
Technology like stationary megatometers
(metal detectors) and handheld scanners
have become commonplace in both stadium
and emergency department entrances
thanks to their ability to detect hidden
weapons. Dr. Marciani, however offers a
word of caution. “You have to pay attention
to bottlenecks and congestion,” he warns.
Once inside a facility, Marciani suggests
a video surveillance system with tracking
analytics and a command station
dashboard. “You’ve heard the term ‘smart
cities?’” he asks. “Well ‘smart stadiums’
is next.” A smart stadium would integrate
high-quality video, tracking analytics and
social media monitoring to assess and hone
in on any potential threat.
Smart stadiums would also take
advantage of the “If You See Something,
Say Something” Homeland Security
campaign which asks citizens — in this
case, stadium guests — to text a number
correlated to their seating area if they
see anything unusual. “The command
center would receive the text and zoom
in with cameras,” says Marciani. “They
can assess the situation, be it a suspicious
package or a rowdy fan, and respond accordingly.”
Marciani suggests turning the command
center into a profit center by
integrating marketing operations. In this
scenario, a marketing director is also looking
at the dashboard, this time for lines
at concessions stands and restrooms so
they can provide better service to guests.
“The ROI is a command center that allows
a holistic look at the environment and the
capabilities to secure, operate and market,”
says Marciani.
Cameras also have a place on campus
hospitals. “We use closed circuit TVs to
monitor as much as possible,” says Terry.
Other technologies like RFID card readers for
access control are common as well.
High-risk areas may have extra layers of
protection. Wilson reports requiring retina
scanners for access to areas with radiation
sources. Terry points to pharmaceutical
distributing machines that involve an ID
card and thumbprint to work.
Of course communication technology
has advanced as well. Hospitals, with their
heavy steel construction and lead-lined
walls, are notorious dead zones. Terry overcomes
this with different technologies that
include alarms that staff wear as pendants
and radio-over-IP systems that allow communication
both within the hospital and
out to other agencies.
Brandon Flagan, CEO, COPSynch,
stresses the importance of getting crucial
information out quickly in times of stress.
“911 becomes inundated during an event,”
he says. “This makes it hard for dispatchers
to get pertinent information to first
responders.” Real-time, law enforcement
mobile data information systems like
COPSynch cut through that and can be
integrated with visual cameras to provide
visual information as well.
The People
No matter how much safety technology
evolves, competent security personnel are
still needed on site. Dr. Marciani quotes
that over 62 percent of schools outsource
their security and stresses the need for
a good contract that demands proper
background checks. He also strongly suggests
background checks and training for
stadium ushers and ticket takers.
As they require an extra layer of HIPAA
and pathogen training, hospital security
personnel are usually university employees.
“Both the police and hospital security
force are our personnel,” states Wilson.
He explains that hospital security get even
more training on how to identify and deal
with clinical issues, grief management and
customers service. “Having the right number
of well-trained officers in key places is
the best bet for safety.”
This article originally appeared in the issue of .