Six top security projects were honored at the 10th annual Security Innovation Awards ceremony at the Houston Secured Cities conference this past November 15. Each submission reflected key public/private partnership sectors that define the Secured Cities conference and the audience of STE magazine.
Qognify, the Denver RTD, and its partners captured the top award for devising one of the country’s most advanced and comprehensive enterprise-level security programs. Taking a phased approach that kept passenger safety and satisfaction at the heart of planning, the Denver RTD has been methodically and continually improving their transit system for more than a decade. The story of this award winning project is our cover story this month.
“The Denver RTD Security Program exemplifies the use of smart technology by smart people. Their objective was to extend the benefits of a combined situation management and video management solution for their entire transportation fleet for the benefit of passengers, employees, and the public at large," added Moti Shabtai, President of Qognify. "And collectively we were able to achieve just that. We are honored to be recognized by the prestigious STE award for the second year in a row, this time for our close partnership with the Denver RTD, Panasonic, Axis, and Rail Services Corporation.”
The top five Gold winning sector project winners included:
Campus Security Sector Project: Littleton, Colorado Public Schools: In December 2013, Littleton Public Schools (LPS), in Colorado suffered a fatal shooting at their Arapahoe High School. The shooting caused school officials to expedite their technology update and expansion plans. Today they continue to roll out new cameras, hybrid NVRs, access control, intrusion, and a host of other systems, as they move toward their ambitious goal of creating a district-wide, comprehensive Physical Security Information Management (PSIM) system.
Upon completion, the new PSIM system will oversee and coordinate security for approximately 15,000 students and staff at LPS’ 27 school and administrative buildings, spread out over 29 miles.
Municipal Video Surveillance Sector Project: The City of Denver: Since 2008, the City of Denver’s surveillance system has expanded from 75 cameras to 1,550 cameras, which cover 65 sites among 25 different government agencies. The average annual growth rate in cameras across the city was 35 percent. Cameras now cover nearly all city and county buildings, including police and fire facilities, recreational centers, the Department of Motor Vehicles, the county jail, the city crime lab, family shelters, and public parks, among many other agency facilities.
The modernizing of Denver’s city surveillance system has resulted in increased reliability, enhanced post-incident investigation, more transparency for departments handling cash transactions and improved customer service for agencies like the DMV who use video data to analyze customer wait times. Video data also now resides on network storage and can be rapidly retrieved and reviewed post-incident.
Public Safety Sector Project: The City of Phoenix: The Phoenix Police Department was tasked with creating a security solution for two major national sports events taking place in early February 2015. The solution required coordination with multiple cities and government agencies. These sporting events drew more than half a million people into the Phoenix/Glendale/Scottsdale area. A flexible solution was needed for this combined effort to manage the crowds, minimize incidents and keep attendees safe. How the Phoenix PD coordinated with multiple agencies and used advanced technologies provided for a successful mission and unique solution.
Private Sector Security Project: Total System Services (TSYS): Total System Services (TSYS) is a United States credit card processor, merchant acquirer, and bank credit card issuer. With its international footprint and with varying security threat levels at each location, TSYS’s biggest challenge is its high secure areas: card production facilities and data centers. They utilize turnstiles/revolvers, anti-tailgating, and anti-passback for a layered approach that makes its security program quite effective. The security department’s challenge has been heightened by ongoing new business acquisitions and the migration upgrade of its access control system across the entire organization. How they met this challenge with help of their systems integrator serves as a lesson for other enterprise-scale projects.
Collaborative Government Project: Credentialed High Assurance Video Encryption (CHAVE) – Submitted by Bosch Security Systems: To thwart the impact of these emerging threats, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) desired a solution to improve methods of screening vehicles and explosives detection systems nationwide to mitigate the threats of a lone wolf and self-radicalized individuals that are already within our borders. Bosch Security Systems, SecureXperts, MSA Security and Genetec collaborated in the integration of MSA SmartTech, into its platform known as the Credentialed High Assurance Video Encryption (CHAVE) cyber secure IP video system. This unique story will be featured in a future issue.
