One of the tragedies of the September 11th attacks was the inability of public and private organizations (EMTs, fire departments, corporate organizations) to share information in real-time. Despite what popular television crime dramas often lead us to believe, the ability to share critical information across multiple agencies, simultaneously and at all levels, was nonexistent in 2001. More than a decade later, sophisticated solutions finally are making interagency communication and collaboration a reality.
Airports and mass transit organizations like the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) at the World Trade Center, have begun to embrace technologies like physical security information management (PSIM). PSIM software correlates, analyzes, and presents vast amounts of data from disparate technologies, including network management applications critical to transit operations, into one common operating picture. With these capabilities, PSIM has transformed real-time interagency communications, operations, and collaboration.
PSIM in Action
At an airport, basic PSIM deployment pools information from all security cameras, video recorders, and access control systems into a single-view operations platform. The visual field can include the entire airport, from passenger checkpoints, lobbies, terminal areas, baggage screening and claim areas, to parking garages and perimeter fence lines.
In addition to visuals, PSIM provides automated incident management tools and action plans based on data gathered from a variety of security devices and systems from the airport and airlines. This enables first responders and authorized personnel to safely and effectively resolve standard or false alarms or complex incidents involving multiple alarms in the fastest and most efficient way possible. PSIM further enables decision makers to share real-time information with incident responders via their mobile devices.
Exit Lane Breach Control
PSIM software can integrate with behavior recognition software. For video surveillance, this dramatically aids in identification of and response to exit lane breaches. If an unauthorized individual or an unknown item enters into a secure area, PSIM software identifies and analyzes the situation, then provides automatic response protocols. On site police are immediately notified and all video cameras adjacent to the breach synchronize to track the location of the intruder/item as well their/its previous movements.
PSIM then provides step-by-step instructions to help guide operators through response procedures and any additional steps, all in accordance with airport policy. Specific actions may include alerting all authorized security and law enforcement officials of the incident via their mobile devices with pictures of the intruder/item to mobile devices, and/or locking all terminal doors .
As a result, situations are identified, managed, and potentially resolved in minutes. For low-risk incidents, PSIM may help avoid terminal closures entirely, potentially saving the airport and the airlines involved millions. Alternatively, in high-risk scenarios — e.g. simultaneous exit lane breaches from multiple airports, warranting a national emergency — pertinent, real-time information can be shared with the Federal Transportation Security Operations Center (TSOC), enabling swift and immediate action.
Emergency Response Coordination
When every second counts, PSIM software empowers the right people at the right time with actionable intelligence. Say an aircraft needs to make an emergency landing. With PSIM in place, air traffic control sends one alert and the system and command center instantly notifies all appropriate emergency responders, airport operators, airline officials, and regulatory authorities. Even hospitals nearby can be placed on standby alert.
In short, PSIM software has the capacity to transform interagency cooperation and provide airport officials unparalleled collaboration and collective intelligence to resolve incidents more quickly, efficiently and effectively.
In cases of explosive device detection, fire, or a biodefense, alarm signals will sound and large numbers of people must immediately be evacuated from harm’s way. Officials are burdened with coordinating an emergency evacuation while also maintaining the integrity of the secure area in terminals and protecting other sensitive sites and assets.
With PSIM software, operators and authorized personnel have visibility into evacuation patterns, can leverage pre-recorded public announcements, and can lock and unlock key evacuation pathways as needed. Computer aided dispatch (CAD) systems can also be harnessed by the PSIM platform to aid in dispatch, and core building management systems (BMS) controlling HVAC, smoke alarms, fire systems, and other critical systems can be brought into a single operating picture and managed by pre-arranged scripts. In such situations, PSIM software allows operators to launch and rely on preconfigured response protocols in the heat of the moment.
Airports Are Like Small Cities
Think of an airport like a small city. Numerous public and private organizations — each with its own unique security technologies and systems — operate around the clock generating masses of often disconnected data. That overflow of information frequently exceeds system operators’ capacity to effectively find and process critical information in real time, limiting the ability to quickly identify trouble and get the right information to the right people at the right time.
PSIM facilitates coordination within airports, across airports, and with the federal government when needed. With PSIM software, airports can ensure real-time information is shared with all necessary agencies and organizations to resolve situations as quickly and safely as possible.
Some of the biggest lessons from September 11th were in the areas of interagency collaboration and communication. PSIM’s development over the past decade has tried to encapsulate those lessons to help operations center personnel be as prepared as possible for future situations.
