Pan Am Games Case Study
The Games
The Pan American Games are the world’s third largest international multi-sport Games; they are only surpassed in size and scope by the Olympic Summer Games and the Asian Games. The TORONTO 2015 Pan American Games took place July 10–26, 2015 and over 1 million spectators watched close to 7,000 athletes from across Latin America, South America, the Caribbean and North America compete in 36 sports.
CommandWear’s mobile situational awareness software was used by local police forces to support public order and major event security teams.
The Situation
Security around the 2015 Pan Am Games was of paramount importance and was under scrutiny in part due to riots that erupted during the G20 Summit in Toronto five years earlier. The aim was to keep the Games open, to protect people without being seen doing it, and to have a fully integrated response team across multiple departments and jurisdictions.
Radios have been the primary means of communicating but are often hard to hear in large crowds. Automated Vehicle Tracking systems are used to track vehicles but don’t provide the kind of real-time personnel location tracking needed for bike, foot, marine and other personnel outside of vehicles. Local police departments wanted to augment current capabilities with CommandWear’s smartphone and smartwatch application to provide Command with a real-time operating picture displaying assigned resources, a text messaging capability for direct and assured (acknowledged) communications and picture/video sharing so command could see what was happening from the frontlines.
The Outcome
For the first time, and with minimal setup time, the departments were able to track the location and status of their team members in real-time and gain better situational awareness with pictures and video taken from responders and sent to Command.
When an incident was reported, a unit could be dispatched immediately because they knew exactly where the closest available unit was in both urban and rural environments. Previously, they lost valuable time by having to call everyone up on the radio, get each responder to report their location, mark it on maps and then dispatch the nearest responder and also send backup.
CommandWear Displays Real-time Responder Locations, Messages and Pictures/Video
Key Findings
The participating police departments met with CommandWear Systems Inc and highlighted these key findings:
1. Real-time GPS tracking and picture/video sharing significantly enhanced Command’s situational awareness;
2. Simplicity and speed of deployment were essential;
3. Ability to Replay an event for debriefings, investigation or inquiries is extremely valuable; and,
4. Ability to deploy as a command centre* on the fly from the trunk of a squad car was critical.
* Note: CommandWear was deployed on pre-configured, department issued smartphones, iPads and smartwatches in Pelican Cases so it could be activated when and where needed with no set-up time required.
“If we have a call for assistance, we can pinpoint the officer’s location precisely on a map, respond faster and more effectively and reduce the number of resources deployed. It provides for a safer environment for the public and our officers. Photo and video are a welcome enhancement to our operations. In a dynamic situation, the Commander has a visual that assists enormously in the decision-making process.”
– Logistics Officer, Large Municipal Police Service