Stadium Access Control That Responds To Live Threats
Each year, football matches and other sporting events attract millions of visitors and offer sports fans an unforgettable experience. But outside of matchdays, stadia can host any number of events, meetings, tours or simply office staff, making secure, flexible access control a priority every day of the week.
Flexibility is the critical word as the security operation must constantly adapt to different situations. A stadium on match day requires stringent access control and oversight for public and staff safety, both before and after the game. A whole team of people will be tasked with monitoring video and access control systems, responding to incidents in real-time.
On non-matchdays, the available resources, occupancy levels and ways that people need to navigate the facility will be entirely different. But there is still a threat of people entering places they shouldn’t be. Therefore, it is important that a stadium has a smart access control solution in place that can be quickly adjusted to the current situation to ensure necessary security at any given time.
Operators need a dynamic solution that can keep up with changes to occupancy, security conditions and potential threats. This is why many stadium security teams are turning to unified security solutions with intelligent threat level management tools, that can alter the behaviour and priorities of the security system at the flip of a switch.
With a unified solution, setting up your access control system to respond to different scenarios is as easy as pressing a button. The system orders a set of standardised responses, which will increase, decrease or refocus security in accordance with the threat level.
For example, cameras that were focused on turnstiles pre-game can pivot to exits post-game, giving you greater oversight over points of access to the ground. Internal doors that are in constant use on non-matchdays can be automatically locked to avoid trespass from curious fans, and the next day, unlocked to avoid disruptions to staff access to offices. For corporate events, access can be restricted to keep attendees away from areas of the stadium preserved for sporting operations.
In the event of an emergency, preconfigured threat levels can be used to ensure standard operating procedures are followed for specific incidents. Consider the case of a missing child. A series of steps can be followed to lock down certain parts of the ground, review surveillance footage from all exit points and make an announcement on the intercom. Or in the case of a local derby, exit times for each stand can be staggered to reduce the possibility of rival fans mixing on the concourse.
Locations in the stadium can also be segmented in the event that the threat level is different across the site. This can be managed from a central location and when used as part of a unified solution, that allows security teams to see all their security operations in a single, uninterrupted view, there is no risk of blind spots when managing access control in multiple areas because operators won’t take their eye off the ball when moving between systems.
The intelligent aspect of threat level management is that all standard operating procedures can be stored for the next time they are needed. Whether they are pre-programmed, or have been discovered during a response, unification helps teams stay proactive to threats by having a step-by-step guide to managing threats at their fingertips.
Managing access control is a 24/7 job for stadium security teams, and they can be empowered by technology that prepares them for any scenario. A unified security system that can respond to different threat levels enables exactly that. It will streamline operations, support staff in their day-to-day and in emergencies and will work away in the background to keep the stadium experience safe, secure and enjoyable.
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