E-book aims to help public safety organisations build safer and smarter cities

Security and intelligence specialist Genetec and multinational tech company Intel have collaborated on an e-book to help public safety organisations create safer and smarter cities.

Enhancing Public Safety: Considerations for Building Safer, Smarter Cities aims to help city and public safety leaders transform their cities by establishing clear priorities, encouraging active stakeholder participation, and implementing a connected technology infrastructure.

New security challenges

The companies claim that the global health crisis brought by the coronavirus has created new security challenges and resilience of cities depends on the open communication and connection between a wide variety of systems and organisations. These include health officials, businesses, traffic control, public works, schools, transit authorities and hospital administrations.

“In many cities, we often see stakeholders who are not collaborating with one another,” said Bob Carter, commercial head, justice and public safety and cities, Genetec. “Working in silos can lead to breakdowns in communication, missed opportunities and lapses in city security.”

At a time when cross-agency collaboration and shared access to real-time information is critical in keeping communities engaged, safe and secure, Genetec and Intel believe that public safety agencies should be accelerating their digital transformation.

“Working in silos can lead to breakdowns in communication, missed opportunities and lapses in city security”

This will enable them to provide effective and meaningful interagency and community collaboration, a unified view of operations, and access to live data that is critical to maintaining public safety today, and into the future.

“Public safety in cities is on the cusp of quantum improvement with the support of disruptive new digital technologies,” added Sameer Sharma, general manager cities and transportation, Intel. “As we look to a future where the rate of change will only increase, cities seek improved ways to guide the everyday flow of information, commerce, and – most importantly – people.”

The strategies detailed in the e-book are designed to help cities improve emergency preparedness, provide first responders and law enforcement with greater situational awareness, and intelligently manage multiple aspects of daily life in the city, including traffic, transportation, and infrastructure.

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