Explosives detection - Security beat

Companies at GSX 2023 emphasised new ways that technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) and the cloud can address long-standing issues in the security market. Among the exhibitors at the event in Dallas were companies seeking creative ways to apply technology, lower costs, and make the world a safer place. Reflecting on the exhibition, here are some additional takeaways. Expanding AI at the edge  i-PRO is a company reflecting the continued expansion of edge AI capability in the...

During the Parkland, Florida, school shooting in 2018, the shooter was caught on a security camera pulling his rifle out of a duffle bag in the staircase 15 seconds before discharging the first round. However, the School Resource Officer didn’t enter the building because he wasn’t confident about the situation, and the Coral Springs Police Department had no idea what the shooter even looked like until 7 minutes and 30 seconds after the first round was fired. If the video system had...

According to the reports of not-for-profit organisation Gun Violence Archive, the year 2018 saw 323 mass shooting incidents as of November. This number is 346 for the year 2017 and 382 for 2016, with ‘mass shooting’ defined as cases where four or more people are shot or killed in the same time period and location. A variety of gunfire detection solutions and other technology approaches seek to address the problem. ShotSpotter SiteSecure and ShotSpotter SecureCampus provide critical...

Gunshot detectors use digital microphones installed on (or in) buildings or along streets that listen for evidence of gunshots, provide near instantaneous notification, triangulate the location of shooters and direction of a shot, detect the type of gun and ultimately aid in catching fleeing suspects and solving crimes. Gunshot detection is just one technology playing a role in the larger trend by city agencies to improve core city services. Cities are turning to what are referred to as ‘...

Coming off a successful ISC West show, Honeywell is sharply focussed on product development, with an emphasis on advanced software. “We have a strong new product pipeline this year – more than two times the number of products than we’ve released in the past several years,” says Luis Rodriguez, Director of Product Marketing, Honeywell Commercial Security. “At ISC West, we received a lot of interest in how AI and new security systems are changing the market.”...

Knightscope’s long-term mission is to “make America the safest country in the world,” says William Santana Li, Chairman and CEO. “The company was started six years ago as we had grown tired and horrified by the ongoing violence in our country and decided to do something about it.” But are security robots the solution to crime and violence in the United States? “There are 2+ million law enforcement and security professionals trying to secure 328+ million peopl...

The last day of Global Security Exchange (GSX) in Las Vegas proved to be the calm after the storm. But a slower third day could not undermine a largely successful 2018 show for exhibitors and attendees. Sometimes the success of a trade show isn’t measured by numbers of attendees (which were reportedly down again this year). Sometimes it’s the individual successes that make an impression. “Just learning about this made the whole trip worthwhile,” said one GSX attendee at...

The 2018 FIFA World Cup tournament is bringing 32 national teams and more than 400,000 foreign football fans from all over the world to 12 venues in 11 cities in Russia. Fans are crowding into cities including Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kazan. Given continuing global concerns about terrorism, security is top-of-mind. Protection of the World Cup games in Russia is focusing on an “integrated safety, security and service approach,” according to officials. Combining the term “sec...

Several recent terrorist and mass violence attacks have been directed at soft targets, or relatively unprotected locations where people gather such as outside a music venue or in the unscreened passenger areas at airports. Attacks in public areas have led to the development of new security technologies aimed at protecting soft targets. One company addressing the challenges is Evolv Technology and its Edge automated high-speed personnel screening solution. The system integrates walkthrough fire...

After the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting, Jody Allen Crowe set out to develop a threat suppression tool to address school violence. Five years later, the result of that effort is the Crotega Threat Suppression System, displayed this year at ISC West. The remotely-deployed threat suppression system drenches a perpetrator with a repulsive water-based solution, thus impairing their ability to enact violence. The solution irritates eyes, throat, lungs and skin, but does not cause permanent injury....

The reason for long lines at U.S. airports is that the airlines now charge fees for checked bags. It’s as good an explanation as any of why airport passenger screening lines suddenly and mysteriously grew out of control during May (and then became manageable again in June). It’s not the only explanation floating about – there’s plenty about high travel volumes, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel shortages, etc. etc. – but it’s the one tha...

The largest global event of 2016 – and the year’s biggest security challenge – will no doubt be the Games of the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Around 15,000 athletes from 206 countries are expected to compete at the Olympic games, August 5-21, 2016, and about 7.5 million tickets will be issued. In our age of terrorism, organisers of any event on the scale of the Rio Olympics must consider the possibility of an attack or other security breach during the more than two...

Heightened security is the watchword throughout Europe and around the world after the recent dual terror attacks in Brussels. Two explosions at Brussels’ Zaventem airport were followed an hour later with a third bomb at the Maelbeek Metro station, just 100 metres (about 300 feet) from the headquarters of the European Union. In all, 35 people died (including three suicide bombers), and more than 300 others were injured, 62 critically. Raised security levels worldwide In Belgium, flights w...