While summer festival season may have drawn to a close, new gigs and large-scale sporting events are still dominating our calendars for the rest of the year.
As highlighted in our recent blog, large-scale events are supported by a host of technologies to ensure safety and convenience for artists and attendees alike. From our data-aggregating Smart Digital Platform that helps inform decision making, to our Cyber Threat Intelligence service to detect and respond to cyber threats – there’s a lot that can be done to mitigate the risks. But, they just scratch the surface of the event security ecosystem…
So, let’s break down some other key tools and technologies that organisers and law enforcement officials should incorporate into their arsenal for event security.
Drones
Although malicious drone activity can pose risks to large-scale events, deploying advanced drone surveillance is crucial for maintaining safety at densely-populated, high-profile events. Equipped with high-resolution cameras, drones offer real-time video feeds that enhance transparency and situational awareness on the ground. This capability aids event organisers and law enforcement in identifying hazards, monitoring crowd movements and density, detecting suspicious activities, and supporting emergency response efforts.
Additionally, long-range drones can perform surveillance tasks from a distance, which is particularly beneficial at busy metropolitan event venues. This remote surveillance is invaluable for identifying threats and compensating for limited on-ground personnel. The comprehensive, real-time perspective provided by drones significantly boosts public safety for both attendees and the surrounding community.
Digital IDs
Ticket scalping and re-selling is unfortunately a common issue faced by fans, event organisers, and artists alike. Thankfully, digital IDs offer a scalable solution to ensure both compliance and safety at large-scale events.
By linking tickets to Digital IDs, event organisers can ensure that genuine ticket holders, rather than scalpers, rightfully hold the tickets. Each attendee’s digital identity can then be verified using a form of biometrics, such as facial or fingerprint recognition, on entry, thereby authenticating the ticket and ticket holder’s authenticity. This added layer of security helps further invalidate counterfeit tickets and prevent unauthorised entry on the door.
Beyond the threat of scalping, digital IDs also facilitate streamlined, contactless access to events, eliminating the dreaded long queues and reducing the risk of dangerous crowds developing. Digital IDs can also verify attributes like age, ensuring that attendees meet specific requirements and comply with event restrictions, thereby improving compliance, too.
On the go biometrics
When a stadium becomes a crime scene, mobile biometric identification technologies enable officers to swiftly process fingerprints and identify suspects in such dynamic environments.
These biometric technologies allow police to analyse fingerprints and perform facial recognition on the spot using a standard police smartphone, eliminating the need to return to the station. Officers can immediately access extensive information about the suspect’s identity, criminal history, and court records, better informing decision making in the field.
With AI-driven data analysis, officers in control rooms and on patrol can also access real-time relevant data and intelligence. This not only enhances resource allocation and betters operational efficiency, but also enables field officers to respond to incidents quickly and effectively.
The takeaways
Given the range of threats at play– from cyberattacks to ticket scalping, physical threats, and dangerous crowd dynamics – the ecosystem must be multi-faceted to effectively respond to any, and all, threats. With a diverse tech backing, alongside effective collaboration between event organisers and law enforcement, large-scale event security can be well-informed, agile, and quick-to-respond.
If you want to read more, check out insights from John Cullen, Strategic Marketing Director of Digital Identity at Thales in this recent TechInformed article.
