Probably more so than prior events, this year’s SIA Government Summit held last month in Washington, D.C., reflected the issues most pressing to federal, state and local government agencies and some of the cutting-edge technologies that are being developed to address the threats. Topics included implementation strategies for Secured and Safe cities to trends in transportation security and meeting the growing terror threat from ISIS in the homeland. Technology trends featured discussions related to enhanced identity verification and authentication, the impact of the Internet of Things phenomena, the expansion of video surveillance in the nation’s cities and practical use of drones for security.
When it comes to a top of mind issue, transportation security is dominant. In a panel that featured Randy Clarke, the former Director of Security for MBTA and now the AVP for Public Safety, Operations and Technical Services for the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), Marshall Epler, Deputy Chief Engineer for the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) and Edouard Sonnenschein, the Surveillance and Video Systems Manager for Amtrak, discussions targeted technology and funding.
Protecting the surface transportation network in the United States, which consists of mass transit systems, passenger and freight railroads, highways, motor carrier operators, pipelines, and maritime facilities, is a daunting task. The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) alone transports over 11 million passengers daily—and represents just one of the more than 6,800 U.S. public transit agencies, according to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). Securing surface transportation systems in a society that depends upon the free movement of people and commerce is a complex undertaking and one that requires extensive collaboration with surface transportation operators.
TSA provides the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with subject matter expertise to assist in the development of the Notice of Funding Opportunities for Surface Transportation Security Grant Programs. These FEMA grants support surface transportation risk mitigation by applying federal funding to critical security projects with the greatest security effects. Between FY 2006 and 2015, over $2.3 billion in transportation security grant funding was awarded to freight railroad carriers and operators, over-the-road bus operators, the trucking community, and public mass transit owners and operators, including Amtrak, and their dedicated law enforcement providers. One-hundred million dollars was appropriated in FY 2016 for mass transit, passenger rail, and motorcoach security grants, which are currently in the application process. Applications were due April 25, 2016, and DHS expects to announce final award allocations next week.
“At Amtrak, we are founded with a focus on counter-terrorism; protecting our environment, protecting our passengers and our infrastructure. But as we all know, we each deal with funding at different levels and we have to deal with the fact that our funds only go so far," said Sonnenschein. "So how do we expand that reality and go beyond that? Part of the concept here is to get buy-in from other departments and identify that security is not the only functionality of CCTV, showing them that it can be used for operations, for transportation, engineering, and maintenance on any given day, and drive these departments to realize this is a phenomenal tool you can use to move people to move trains and identify issues you may have out in the field.”
Epler explained that WMATA has been in the midst of expanding its video surveillance system for the past two decades, upgrading more than 91 stations along the way, with another 15 yet to do. Finding the funding and grants to keep projects on track is difficult, but knowing how to work with your colleagues in selling functionality goes a long way in getting total organizational buy-in.
“It is difficult to get funding for security cameras, so if you approach from the standpoint of security alone, you are not going to have a good experience. So what I tell my folk is that you all know what CCTV does for security, but in reality, it has a lot of great dual use technology – there’s lot you can do with it,” said Epler. “For security, you can see the bad guy do something, you capture it on video and take him away to jail. But at WMATA we are also using it for other operational things like platform crowding. We have between 30 and 50 cameras at every station so we know what’s going on at all levels. If the platforms get too crowded, we send in transit police and stop people from coming on the platform. The cameras are great for non-security situational awareness.”
Epler also pointed out that WMATA is a magnet for lawsuits. “If a bus gets into an accident and it had 10 passengers on it, by the time the lawsuits come in there are now 20 people saying they were on that bus. So cameras protect WMATA when it comes to litigation claims,” he added.
Another panel delved into the video data dilemma that municipalities using extensive video surveillance networks are facing. Otto Laufer, the Homeland Security Division Project Manager for the City of Santa Ana Police Department, has seen plenty of changes his last 16 years on the Santa Ana force. The city is now the 11th largest in the state of California and has had its share of budget issues. The city faced bankruptcy four years ago and had a high attrition rate of officers, along with a hiring freeze.
“Ideally, you like to have one officer per 1,000 citizens, yet we were averaging one per 2,000. A tough situation like that brings a need for creativity and new resources to enhance the safety of the officers in the field,” said Laufer.
To make matters worse, the city crime rates were running higher than the national average from 2005 until the new city manager arrived in 2014 and helped Santa Ana embark on a five-year strategic plan that ranked community and public safety as a number one priority -- with input from the community. Part of Laufer’s responsibility in the Homeland Security Division was and continues to be managing the UASI funding and grants. Santa Ana had already begun replacing their antiquated CCTV system using Siemens as their integrator in 2008.
“Siemens came in and helped us fix a broken system that really never worked. The retrofit turned out to be extremely successful, so successful in fact, that I started going around the country to see what other cities were doing. Cameras were becoming more and more common in municipalities and businesses so we started plans to expand our system to the Civic Center, using part of the UASI funding that is earmarked for critical infrastructure,” said Laufer. “While video is not the ultimate protection, it is a great deterrent and provides evidentiary value after the fact. The goal was to create a comprehensive surveillance system throughout the Center and video sharing with the multiple agencies we interact with.
“Fostering public/private partnerships to make this successful is a necessity. Considering that businesses and other entities all have their own disparate camera systems requires that you figure out ways to leverage those relationships so we don’t incur unexpected costs ourselves. The real-time information benefit provided by video systems is invaluable, providing that common operating picture and situational awareness that is crucial for first responders in an emergency. Planned events are one thing, but unplanned emergencies are a whole different situation,” added Laufer. “City agencies all have limited funds so you have to get creative.”
Industry Note:
If you interested in topics like transportation security and municipal video surveillance, we recommend you checking out the upcoming Secured Cities conference. The 8th edition of the Secured Cities conference will be held November 15 – 17, 2016 in Houston, TX.
Recognized as the largest and only conference dedicated to the public/private partnership initiatives in the Public Safety and emergency management sectors, Secured Cities delivers a unique blend of peer-to-peer learning and hands-on experience.
Coordinating efforts among public and private municipal stakeholders allows for a cohesive security and risk mitigation plan. That is the mantra of Secured Cities, the only content-driven national conference providing an interactive forum for public safety, law enforcement, and management-level security personnel – both public and private – to address trending topics relevant to securing municipal, educational, and healthcare and transportation sectors.
Funding and rapid technology advancement are two issues both public safety and security personnel are challenged with when it comes to today’s strategic planning. As public and private partnerships emerge across the country, having a venue where law enforcement, emergency management, security and government officials can meet in a collaborative environment is essential. Secured Cities is that venue.
Whether you are accountable 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 provides the educational and networking opportunities to help you establish the programs and build the relationships to address today’s security and emergency management challenges. Go to www.securedcities.com for more information or click here to register.
