Strength In Numbers
- By Stuart Mackiernan
- Apr 21, 2008
With heightened demand for security at multiple
buildings spread over a wide geographic
area, effective and efficient monitoring and
dispatch have become a considerable challenge at military
bases and other large government installations
worldwide. A regionalization approach to security meets
this challenge by centralizing alarm monitoring and dispatch
functions, making it easy for a small staff to monitor
dozens of systems at a time.
Regionalization involves using centralized command
and control centers to consolidate the monitoring and
management of 911-type emergency services—fire, rescue
and police—RF communications, intrusion detection,
access control and video surveillance for large numbers
of buildings scattered over hundreds of square miles.
Spread Thin
Over the last decade, Quanta Systems LLC and Tiburon
Inc. have helped the government successfully implement
regional projects at sites in the United States and overseas.
Since 1952, CompuDyne has been providing public
safety and security products and services to U.S.
embassies, justice centers, military bases, discreet government
facilities and detention centers. The products
cover a wide range of security needs, including command
and control centers, computer-automated dispatch/
record management systems, bullet- and blastresistant
enclosures, integrated access control/intrusion
detection systems, fiber-optic perimeter protection systems,
hardened guard booths, prefabricated jail cells,
bollards and barriers.
Quanta Systems provides turnkey security system integration
for the federal agencies, while Tiburon provides
911 computer-automated dispatch systems to police, fire
and rescue departments, and records management systems
for public safety, justice and detention agencies.
Recently, Quanta and Tiburon worked together to
complete a large-scale regionalization project for the
military at an undisclosed overseas facility. This is the
fourth major regionalization project for the government.
The project consolidated and integrated fire and security
management, monitoring and dispatch functions for
systems installed in 244 buildings located on seven facilities
spread over more than 200 square miles.
Prior to regionalization, the government installations
had separate command centers. Because of a lack of uniformity
from system to system, the facility commanders
had no consolidated recordkeeping that might lead to the
accumulation of valuable intelligence. They didn’t realize
how dynamic safeguards could be achieved through
the integration of sophisticated security systems. They
could not strategically coordinate their first-responder
resources, nor achieve the economies of scale possible
with a central system.
The regionalization efforts that have been completed
and those under way centralize and integrate various legacy
security and fire systems, create redundant back-ups
and maximize the utility and efficiency of all security, fire
and rescue resources, particularly manpower.
The program creates a quality-assured security, fire
and rescue environment wherein centralized watch commanders
are able to ascertain the operating statuses of
each facility’s electronic systems, first-responder
resources and the emergency communications network.
Most importantly, regionalization enhances overall
security. This concept fosters a gatekeeper mentality in
which facility commanders manage each event using
derived intelligence. They have the ability to verify the
condition and response characteristics of each security
or fire subsystem, at any time, in every building wired to
the consolidated system. And finally, they can implement
preventive measures, as well as reactive measures
for each situation that arises.
Mission Accomplished
The latest regionalization effort, like the ones previously
performed, achieved consolidated emergency service
functions including enhanced 911, fire and security
alarms, RF communications, and video detection and
assessment of mission-critical locations. It also centralized
the 24/7 dispatch operations of multiple military
bases with fallback provisions and optimized the communications
network to prepare for all types of emergencies.
Efforts also provided standardized alarm reporting
methodology and life-safety procedures from a regional
perspective, created system redundancies for equipment
failures and power outages, and maintained or exceeded
current levels of secure encrypted alarm signaling for
each security installation. The project maximized return
on investment, minimized life-cycle costs and enhanced
efficiencies throughout all fire, security, dispatch and
responder functions.
Threat response improved by having a standardized
set of region-wide dispatcher instructions for each threat
scenario; it also developed the ability to run multiple
applications on single-client workstations, allowing
watch commanders to strategically adjust incident management
responsibilities without shifting operators from
one workstation to another.
Finally, there was centralized management of support
functions including report generation, records management,
training, logistics and administration. Enhanced
command-and-control response through the use of centralized
databases captured valuable database intelligence
related to incident reporting.
Turning Proactive
The command and control center does more than just
incorporate all fire, security and ambulance services
under one roof. The regionalization effort provides for
the convergence of multiple technologies, which creates
beneficial technical overlaps that yield more dynamic
capabilities. The result is better preventive and reactive
measures, which leads to a dramatic increase in the overall
scope of protection.
Moreover, the ability to expand is endless because the
centralized information can be used to derive strategic
intelligence. A good example is video surveillance. Most
surveillance technology has gone from analog to digital,
allowing the development and use of sophisticated algorithms
from which a wealth of intelligence can be
derived from video image analysis.
Today’s video surveillance systems are much more
dynamic in nature and are designed to use a combination
of computer processing and human capabilities to derive
greater deterrence value from a set of cameras. This is
just one aspect of regionalization centers that will allow
them to become more proactive in the security world, all
of which will lead to greater staff and infrastructure
security at government facilities worldwide.