Honeywell and University of Southern Mississippi’s National Center for Spectator Sports Safety and Security (NCS4) are combining their experience to address complex safety challenges and security threats facing school communities nationwide and interscholastic athletic programs. Through the collaboration, Honeywell and NCS4 will work to enhance video and audio analytics technology capable of studying crowd behavior as well as identifying and locating guns, gunshots, and fights.
“Human delay always adds a vulnerability in the school security ecosystem,” said Pete Lau, President, Commercial Security, Honeywell. “We are working to create video analytics capabilities that can quickly detect threats. Our partnership with NCS4 will help test the platforms and identify partners for technology integration to help initiate faster emergency response times. Our goal is to develop security software and hardware that helps keep people and places safe.”
NCS4 will install Honeywell advanced video analytics and audit notification technology including MaxPro Video, Pro-Watch Access Control, and UNP Mass Notification at its National Sport Security Laboratory and in connected real-world environments. Integrators and researchers will test and train with capable solutions, while students will build an understanding of how technology plays a role in addressing school and sports safety challenges. The lab and field testing venues will gather analytics data from real-life school and sports safety and security environments that will ultimately help inform future security innovations.
“Public-private partnerships can bring the best from academia and companies together to help improve school safety and security,” said Dr. Lou Marciani, NCS4 Director. “We look forward to leveraging the security expertise of Honeywell and working together to develop technologies that will help protect future generations.”
As an extension of the partnership, Honeywell is participating in the 2019 National Interscholastic Athletics Safety and Security Summit that begins today through April 5 in Katy, Texas. Organized by NCS4, in conjunction with Katy Independent School District, safety and security professionals from across the country gather to address critical safety and security issues facing those responsible for safety and security at school sporting events.
