Canadian Government Executive - Volume 27 - Issue 02

March/April 2021 // Canadian Government Executive / 7 SMART CITIES 4.Emergency management: Rapid and tar- geted intervention in case of man-made or natural disasters 5.Risk and compliance: Provide forensic evidence for citizen claims against public security officers 6.Crime prediction: Predict trends in par- ticular types of crime in the city areas and smaller communities As our communities continue to see more infrastructure growth, the populations who live in them also flourish - this is when po- tential threats to public safety can grow. We start experiencing challenges both to the in- frastructure and overall security of a city and outlying community. Managing large crowds Unruly crowds are becoming more of an oc- currence, and both cities and provinces are taking steps to address these occurrences. For instance, the province of British Colum- bia is looking to implement crowd control measures in some of the provincial parks .1 Overseeing and guiding mass crowds is key to overall public safety. The best way to manage crowds is to un- derstand crowd dynamics and behaviour in order to reduce the probability of potentially risky situations. Multi-functional surveil- lance solutions for crowd management can detect crowds, count people, monitor social distancing, and gather insights to improve safety and flow. For example, an IP camera and audio solutions 2 can offer high-quality video as well as audio guidance and an- nouncements. Analytics applications like people counting and crowd detection im- prove crowd management even more. Add to that, automated notifications and actions, based on pre-set rules and you have a sound comprehensive formula that can help safety authorities redirect people and traffic, even plan and execute emergency evacuations. Cybersecurity Physical security is not the only thing to con- sider. With ever-changing technology comes a greater risk of cyberattacks on individual security and privacy. Hardening these sys- tems is essential to protecting citizens and their data. According to Public Safety Can- ada, national and cybersecurity is a top-of- mind concern. Like other countries, Canada is facing a constant, ever-increasing barrage of targeted attacks from hackers and cyber- criminals. 3 This could make law enforcement databases a high-value target for ransom- ware and a portal to access personal identi- fiable information of the public and the po- lice department. Technologies like HTTPS, 802.1X, signed firmware and secure boot can assist, if implemented correctly, to mitigate the risk of a vulnerability or exploit being taken advantage of via the security system. These technologies should be implemented across the system not solely on the edge of security devices. Cyber protection is no different for wear- able surveillance. In this case, law enforce- ment should look to vendors that provide a wearable tech solution backed by a fully encrypted end-to-end system using industry standards such as TLS and AES256. Video should be watermarked, and it should be in- tegrated with a case management system for continuity of evidence, tracking, and audit- ing purposes. Only very specific users within an organization with the necessary hard- ware/applications and permissions should have access to the stored video. IoT sensors to monitor the environment Protecting people from extreme weather ele- ments, such as flooding, or climate change is also a key consideration to creating safer cities. Camera technology along with IoT sensors can help us collect real-time weather data monitoring things like road and side- walk conditions, visibility, and temperature. Cameras and IoT solutions can improve public safety through: 1.Situational awareness: Improve aware- ness of the overall situation for city plan- ners, maintenance, and police services to be able to react in a more effective manner and deploy the right resources 2.Police investigations: Speed up the iden- tification of suspects and collection of evi- dence 3.Public order: Control crowds in public spaces and at major events Cyber protection is no different for wearable surveil- lance. In this case, law enforcement should look to vendors that provide a wearable tech solution backed by a fully encrypted end-to-end system using industry standards such as TLS and AES256.