Secured Cities shines light on public-private partnerships

Oct. 18, 2013
Coordinating efforts between all the stakeholders allows for a cohesive security and risk mitigation plan

In my 26 years in this industry, I’ve attended a lot of conferences, exhibits, seminars and vendor or association affairs passed off as meaningful events. Unfortunately I find way too many of them long on schmooze time and short on substance. And if you are lucky enough to latch on to a conference that seems to feature tangible content, it will usually cost you a small fortune to attend!

So when we created our Secured Cities Conference in 2011 we decided on two important differentiators – make the event content-driven and make it affordable. That’s why coming to Baltimore on November 14-15 is a good investment.

Secured Cities is the only conference in the United States that provides an interactive forum for all law enforcement and management-level security personnel – both public and private – who are responsible for understanding and implementing government funding and grant initiatives, emerging technologies, security and emergency management policy and operations, best practices and peer-led applications.

Secured Cities is not a trade show but rather a solutions summit that serves the public/private partnership initiatives that are driving technology and integrated risk strategies for all stakeholders in this environment including urban business districts, education campuses, healthcare facilities and transit operations.

A Unique Venue

So here’s the deal with Secured Cities and what makes it an event I highly recommend and certainly urge you to consider:

  • It’s content-driven
  • Covers all the hot security verticals – municipal and regional government, campus, healthcare and transit
  • Is the only event in the industry featuring public/private partnership initiatives that include technology, funding and budget issues
  • There are more than 60 concurrent sessions packed into two days
  • It is the only conference that compliments your classroom sessions with live tours of real facilities hosted by the security professionals that staff them
  • It is a peer-to-peer event that doesn’t allow vendors to attend unless they are sponsors
  • It is a small venue that allows for intimate interaction with your peers and more than 50 solutions providers you want to see
  • And—it’s affordable!

That’s right. A conference with substance your budget can handle. This is the 5th Secured Cities event, which initially launched as a niche municipal video surveillance best practices conference. But we quickly saw that the ecosystem of urban public and private partners spanned many areas, as security directors and campus police chiefs from major colleges and universities, public school system administrators, security managers at large healthcare facilities and security directors for city transit authorities joined the event as attendees.

That’s why we expanded the umbrella to include all of these stakeholders in new Secured Cities Conference for 2013. This year’s comprehensive session tracks are laser-focused to include specific technology and management classes for those in the campus, healthcare, transit and public safety sectors. Most of the sessions are peer-led and interactive.

We are thrilled to have the IAHSS partnering with Secured Cities for the healthcare security track. From reducing ER tensions to protecting sensitive data, healthcare facilities face numerous threats. The Secured Healthcare features presentations from experts on how to mitigate risks by using technology, training and industry best practices. Some of the compelling topics to be discussed include:

  • How Healthcare Construction Projects Compromise Security
  • CMS Regulations on Use of Force in a Healthcare Environment
  • Digital Identity in Healthcare
  • Preventative Care: Leveraging Proactive Technology to Secure Hospital Campuses
  • Weapons Searches / Metal Detection: A Healthcare Case Study
  • Threat Management for Healthcare Management
  • Affordable Care Act and How it Affects Maintaining Your Level of Security
  • Social Networking Investigations/Cyber Crimes
  • Workplace Violence in a Healthcare Setting

With the increase in campus-related incidents over the past few years, maintaining a safe and secure campus is becoming increasingly important. Yet with numerous facilities hosting thousands of people daily, managing security on a university campus can be a daunting challenge. That’s why the Secured Campus track is a key portion of this event. Some of the campus risk mitigation issues featured includes:

  • Connecting Campus/School Security with Law Enforcement
  • Improving Incident Outcomes with Mobile, Real-time Solutions for Large-Scale Campuses
  • Protect Schools from Violent Intruders by Applying Best Practices Within the Framework of Emergency Management
  • Campus Policy, Procedure, Guideline Development and Management
  • A Layered Approach to Securing Campuses Using Technology that Supports an "Immediate Responder" Platform While Waiting for the "First Responders"
  • Campus Policy, Procedure, Guideline Development and Management
  • Emergency Management Policy & Procedures at Virginia Tech

The final piece of the Secured Cities collaboration deals with urban transportation and ports. Securing transportation systems is vital to the overall safety of any city. The Secured Transit track offers you the opportunity to learn best practices from security leaders at some of the nation’s largest transit systems. Among the educational opportunities included are:

  • How Seattle's Sound Transit Unified Its Security & Communications Operations Center
  • Collaboration Gets the MBTA Moving into the Security Fast Lane
  • Surveillance Systems at Scale
  • Command and Control at the MDTA
  • How Can We Become a More Resilient Nation? Lessons Learned from Hurricane Sandy and Boston Marathon Bombings
  • Securing the Port of Houston

On the conference’s final day, we are hosting on-site tours of Baltimore Police Department’s impressive CitiWatch Command & Control Center, where you will get a behind-the-scenes look at both technology and operations; the acclaimed R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, which is one of the highest volume trauma centers in the country; and finally, the Maryland Department of Transportation Authority’s control center, which serves as the security and public safety hub for state-wide operations. These tours will be limited and included with your registration

The CitiWatch Tour

Attendees will be treated to a 2-hour, behind-the-scenes guided tour of the command and control facility of Baltimore’s CitiWatch program, one of the most sophisticated municipal surveillance networks in the country.

CitiWatch Services provides state-of-the-art video surveillance cameras throughout the City of Baltimore in an effort to assist police and other city agencies with public safety. The cameras are monitored 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by certified video surveillance monitors with law enforcement backgrounds.

According to Baltimore Police Lt. Samuel Hood, the CitiWatch program was launched in 2005 by former mayor Martin O'Malley with an initial deployment of 50 cameras. The program now integrates 538 cameras from across the city into the Criminal Intelligence Watch Center located inside Baltimore Police Department headquarters.

CitiWatch can also view recorded footage for every camera, which is stored for 28 days. The video is recorded at a rate of 15-30 frames-per-second, and all video evidence is burned offsite, per the city's video policy.

R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center Tour

Located in Baltimore City, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center, which serves as the State’s Primary Adult Resource Center (PARC), reported receiving 8,265 patients in FY13, with a 96 percent survival rate. Thomas M. Scalea, MD, FACS, FCCM, serves as the Physician-in-Chief for the Program in Trauma. Karen E. Doyle, MBA, MS, RN, NEA-BC, is the Vice-President of Nursing and Operations. 

As the nation’s first and only integrated trauma hospital, the R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center is dedicated to treating the critically ill and severely injured and employs groundbreaking research and innovative medical procedures with one goal in mind – saving lives. As one of the highest volume trauma centers in the United States, teams of providers are standing by 24/7 to receive, resuscitate, stabilize, and treat those whose lives are threatened by time sensitive injury and illness. These include, but are not limited to, thoracic, intra-abdominal and facial trauma, spinal cord and column injuries, brain injury, and acute complex orthopedic injury. In addition, patients who develop life-threatening respiratory failure, multiple organ dysfunction, soft tissue infection, and sepsis may be transferred to Shock Trauma where expert clinicians and sophisticated technology such as advanced hemodynamic monitoring, continuous renal replacement therapy, and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation are readily available.

The Shock Trauma Center is a multidisciplinary clinical, educational and research institution dedicated to world class standards in the prevention and management of critical injury and illness. The trauma center’s highly specialized medical personnel and dedicated resources are focused on a single mission:  To eradicate preventable death and disability and thus reduce the personal tragedy and overall costs associated with severe injury.  This mission is continuously pursued through state-of-the-art clinical care services, active research, didactic and hands-on clinical education and prevention programs.

The tour will provide insight to the security and emergency management function of this major healthcare facility and explain how new technologies are aiding in that mission.

The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) Tour

The Maryland Transportation Authority (MDTA) is responsible for constructing, managing, operating and improving the state’s toll facilities and other transportation services for public use and convenience. The MDTA’s eight toll facilities—two turnpikes, two tunnels, and four bridges—help keep traffic moving in Maryland for the state’s 5.8 million residents and more than 10 million annual visitors. 

The State of Maryland faces a unique set of security challenges because of their critical infrastructure and their waterways.   As key portion of the I-95 corridor runs through Maryland, damage or interference with any of its bridges or tunnels has the potential repercussion of slowing or halting transit for much of the Eastern seaboard. Such a scenario could have catastrophic implications in terms injuries, fatalities and economic impacts.

This tour will feature the innovative MDTA command center in Baltimore that uses 3,000+ sensors, 500+ cameras, video analytics, perimeter intrusion detection, and more.  The MDTA will review how its security infrastructure was updated from multiple disparate systems to a consolidated facility with the ability to provide detailed real-time situational awareness from a centralized location using Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) software.  The center has increased efficiencies and decreased response times by creating one view of all security and safety related incidents statewide and implementing standard operating procedures and necessary tools for immediate assessment and resolution of events.

You’ll see how this busy command center continuously monitors its assets and appropriately responds to unfolding security and safety situations in real time.

Prominent Key Note Speakers

Secured Cities is also excited to have Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley serving as a keynote speaker at our luncheon on Friday, Nov. 15. Mr. O’Malley is the former mayor of Baltimore and was a huge supporter of the city’s world-class video surveillance system.

So I encourage any security professional involved in these sectors to make plans to join as at Secured Cities – the security and public safety conference that provides the most value for your participant dollar! Not only does your registration fee provide access to invaluable educational opportunities, but it also includes all meals and a network reception.

Register today at SecuredCities.com and enter promo code SC2013 and save! There are special rates for government attendees, as well as for IAHSS, ASIS and Infragard members, so check the website.

Need to make hotel reservations? Reserve your room through our housing partner, OnPeak, to ensure you pay the lowest price and get the best service with reservation protection.

As conference director, I look forward to seeing you in Baltimore (www.securedcities.com).