LVT Keeps a Critical Eye On Crowds And Critical Infrastructure

No matter your era, from Bananarama’s ’80s banger or last summer’s breakout (and breakup) hit by Taylor Swift, it’s been a “Cruel Summer” for superfans of all ages.

As athletes, “ring-heads,” and the “Drop It Like It’s Hot” rapper descended on Paris, many local residents set out to escape the City of Lights. Yet hours before the official kickoff of the quadrennial sporting event of nations, a “coordinated arson attack” brought the French high-speed railway network to a halt, delaying more than 800,000 travelers.

Days later, vandals targeted the fiberoptic networks of several French telecommunications operators. While the attack was isolated, more than 11,000 customers across the country were affected.

Most recently, Austrian law enforcement authorities foiled two teenagers’ planned attack on Taylor Swift’s run of shows in Vienna. The targeted venue, the Ernst Happel Stadion, is not only accessible via two railway lines and an underground subway, other critical infrastructure assets are located nearby. One includes the singer herself, who could be considered part of the financial services sector, with one analyst estimating Swift’s “Eras Tour” could generate $5 billion for the United States economy. 

The Plot Thickens: Threats Against U.S. Critical Infrastructure

While recent headlines point to overseas plots, bad actors continue to make threats against U.S. targets and the American way of life. The stakes are high and both private enterprise and public sectors’ safety leaders are working collaboratively to ensure they have comprehensive, collaborative, and coordinated approaches to safeguarding our critical infrastructure,
especially when crowd management is also on the agenda.

When large groups gather, security teams must be ready for anything, especially when critical infrastructure assets comprise part of the security plans. From concerts and music festivals to sporting events and parades, college graduations, political rallies, and demonstrations, massive events create massive safety and security issues for civilian protection. This means guests’ safety must headline every event.

According to the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, security considerations encompass many things, including bomb threats, active shooters, and attacks from weaponized vehicles and unmanned aircraft, as well as defending TSA checkpoints and securing border crossings.

Citizens and businesses rely on functioning critical infrastructure, including electrical grids, power stations, and transportation hubs. Before these critical infrastructure entities are threatened, security professionals need a playbook to prepare for and adapt to changing conditions—and how to withstand and recover rapidly from disruptions. To do this, critical infrastructure security leaders must embrace resiliency and build it into preparedness planning—and then execute those plans.

How To Safeguard Critical Infrastructure

Civilian protection at critical infrastructure sites needs to employ traditional security measures, like gates and armed guards, supplemented by local police patrols, but experts also suggest running risk assessments to identify weaknesses in security. Recommendations to implement layered security protocols, using multifaceted technologies, can include:

• Enterprise and job site surveillance cameras
• Video surveillance with advanced analytics
• Motion detection
• Gunshot detection
• Mobile and remote surveillance capabilities
• Counter-drone technologies
• Artificial intelligence technology

Critical infrastructure asset defense and security plan tactics should encompass:

• Mitigation measures, including identifying threats, strengthening government and law enforcement relationships, displaying better signage, ensuring security is highly visible, hardening facilities, entering mutually beneficial security agreements with other organizations, sharing intelligence and security services when necessary, and creating a cost-benefit analysis.  
• Preparation procedures, including creating appropriate umbrella responses, monitoring current events with keen attention to flashpoints on social media or political events, sharing assessment updates, integrating third-party security measures to reduce dependence on law enforcement, establishing traffic control protocols, responding to facility damage as soon as possible, and practicing security drills with key team members.
• Immediate response actions, including enhancing crowd-monitoring capabilities, adjusting traffic protocols and deploying employee safety measures in real time
• Recovery considerations, including restoring critical infrastructure to normal operations, asses and repair damage, conducting a security debrief to improve operations for future issues, assessing damage, and collecting and preserving evidence

LVT Units Help Secure Critical Infrastructure and U.S. Army Perimeter Defenses

Liveview Technologies offers state-of-the-art surveillance solutions that can help secure critical infrastructure assets effectively. Its systems use cutting-edge technologies to enhance existing physical security measures, monitoring facilities in real time, detecting intruders, and responding to threats promptly. And the company prides itself on being hardware agnostic, by being able to integrate any camera or data input device and connect it to their proprietary software.

The U.S. Army tapped LVT to help ensure the safety of Fort Moore’s active-duty military, family members, reservists, retirees, and civilian employees, as well as secure vital assets and equipment. Their collaborative partnership operationalized the government’s existing security units by upgrading them with LVT’s proprietary technologies. The units increased security at the Georgia base by:

• Widening the existing security coverage with limited resources
• Providing increased security and surveillance for Fort Moore-hosted events, including its Oktoberfest, Ranger Open House, and Fourth of July celebration
• Increasing security measures for a new egress gate by providing live-streaming capabilities and more complete tracking data, ultimately improving traffic flow and visitor experience
• Helping to search and apprehend an intruder by providing real-time monitoring in the search for the suspect and the vehicle

Users and stakeholders of the LVT Platform at Fort Moore report that the technology helps maintain a secure environment and streamlines the surveillance team’s and emergency staff’s efforts.

Deploy LVT Units to Meet the Critical Security Needs Required to Protect Critical Infrastructure

Mobile surveillance LVT Units, backed by its proprietary LVT Platform, also provide:

• AI event-driven alerts
• Platform-as-a-service
• Low-metered data consumption
• Low-power consumption
• IoT orchestration and edge computing
• Automated behavior and data gathering
• Cloud-based VMS
• Proactive deterrence methods
• Real-time system health monitoring and self-healing

 The mobile security systems are proactive, complete with integrated layers of video surveillance capabilities including 360-degree remote monitoring and robust video analytics. LVT Units include motion sensors, lights, thermal imaging, and alarm systems, which:

• Increase safety and security
• Reduce and deter loitering, theft, vandalism, and violent crime
• Send trespassing notifications

• Collect and transfer evidence
• Create a perimeter

• Monitor real-time situations
• Create and share a time-lapse video

LVT Units’ public announcement systems also help keep crowds safe by offering the ability to deliver:

• Parking lot announcements
• Emergency or scheduled alerts
• Gate regulation
• Threat deterrence

LVT’s enterprise surveillance camera systems play a vital role in securing critical infrastructure, from the Public Utilities District in Snohomish County, Washington to the islands and people that Hawaiian Electric serves. Our customers also trust LVT to keep entertainment eventgoers safe, deter would-be criminals, and defend against bad actors.

Ready to learn more about LVT?  Contact our team today for a demo.