Thales has unveiled its new integrated system for large‐scale event management and crisis management at Milipol 2013. Designed for civil security forces, this solution provides for effective collaboration between deployed units and command centers securing such events.
The authorities and forces responsible for public safety and security must contend with increasingly frequent and wide‐ranging incidents, from crime and accidents to natural disasters and crisis situations. They also need to process and analyze an ever‐growing volume of information and intelligence data gathered on the ground. These trends present a new set of challenges for security professionals. At command level, the risk is information overload. For units, response times can be slower, due to an inability to sort and analyse information.
To meet this need for increased efficiency, Thales has developed a new solution incorporating the key conventional functions — situation awareness, management of command information and crisis management system resources — combined with new modules, such as advanced decision support and asset coordination.
The system enables operations managers to gain a clear picture of forces deployed on the ground, via a touchscreen tablet. Coordination officers at a command centre can monitor overall operations as they evolve, using a screen wall. “This ability to disseminate the right information, calibrated to the needs of each user, according to their level of responsibility, is a distinctive feature of our new solution.” a Thales official said.
The system uses smartphones and tablets to facilitate mobile users’ access to multimedia data, including still and video imagery. In fact, users operating standard devices can have access to secure applications, tailored to the needs field agents. One such application is the ‘Field Observer’, which instantly enriches situation updates with georeferenced still and video imagery. A mobile component developed in partnership with Renault Trucks Défense offers additional functions, such as ‘last mile’ reconnaissance imagery, utilizing a micro‐UAV.
Other tools based around communities of interest, enables information sharing and a coordinated vision by different levels of command, from planning to debriefing. Such solutions are improving operational efficiency, synchronizing the information viewed from the highest decision levels of government through to field agents deployed on the scene. As a result, the authorities have a real‐time picture of the situation to support a proactive and timely resolution. This integrated and collaborative solution can be deployed at a national or regional operations centre or on‐site in a mobile command vehicle.
Thales has drawn on its experience with public safety and security, such as the Ciudad Segura (secure city) project in Mexico, and the the BDSP public security database for the Gendarmerie Nationale in France, to develop the new system.
