Major events—be they concerts, sports events, public ceremonies, political summits and the like—can be a policing and security headache. All such events bring together large numbers of people in well-advertised locations and typically have a high media profile. This makes them an attractive target for terrorists and for those looking to platform a particular cause. At the same time, every event is different. So, whilst previous plans and templates can provide a starting point, security at each event will likely require individual planning and analysis, and then a highly tailored plan of action.
How much resource?
Effectively policing and securing a major event is by its very nature expensive because it requires significant resources. Inevitably, it will also divert resources away from everyday policing. How do you get the balance right? Should senior officers minimise resource usage to avoid ‘wasting’ resources, or should they be tempted to over-resource in the hope of ensuring effective protection? It’s a big dilemma.
Adding further to the complexity of planning and resourcing, many large events may involve multiple organisations: site owners or operators, police, military, local authorities and so forth, and perhaps even the protection forces of visiting dignitaries or celebrities. Some major events can also be geographically dispersed across multiple sites, with athletes and VIPs requiring protection not only at different locations but along connecting travel routes.
Creating an effective shared plan
Formulating an effective shared plan and shared situational awareness can be incredibly complex, but that’s exactly what CTS-PRAS is designed for. It’s a software tool that brings significant speed and accuracy gains to the assessment and mitigation of threats from stand-off weapons, such as MANPADS, rockets, missiles, mortars, small arms and UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems), and from hostile surveillance. It then effectively communicates results through compelling visualisations.
Understanding the threat landscape
A key strength of CTS-PRAS is the way in which it enables a detailed assessment of potential threats and an understanding of the threat landscape. These threats are likely to include:
- UAS (Unmanned Aerial Systems) including drones
See our earlier Airport and CNI protection article for an insight into how the CTS-PRAS software helps to analyse and mitigate the UAS threat
- Weapons and firearms of multiple types—for example, MANPADS/MPADS and a wide range of stand-off weapons, such as rockets, missiles, mortars and small arms
Again, see our earlier Airport and CNI protection article for information on how CTS-PRAS can help protect against the MANPADS threat. Also, look out for our forthcoming article on how CTS-PRAS provides a rapid planning and analysis tool for firearms operations.
- IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices)—CTS-PRAS includes a simple blast modelling capability that can help in planning deterrence measures against IEDs of varying sizes, and should the presence of an IED be suspected, rapidly inform the setting up of cordons and exclusion zones.
- Perimeter security— the deployment of proven techniques such as foot and vehicle patrols and CCTV cameras can be optimised using CTS-PRAS. For example, existing or planned CCTV coverage can be quickly analysed by the software to determine coverage of areas of interest and to identify gaps, dead spots and areas covered by multiple cameras.
- Hostile vehicle attacks—the CTS-PRAS software has been used for some time to assist the generation of inputs required by existing simple analysis tools. However, in response to the increase in the hostile vehicle threat, we are now looking to incorporate comprehensive hostile vehicle analysis capability natively within the CTS-PRAS feature set.
Proven protection for the world’s biggest events
In summary, CTS-PRAS software from Cunning Running can play a vital role in the rapid planning, analysis and mitigation of a wide range of threats that are capable of disrupting major events or, worse, causing appalling harm.
CTS-PRAS is advanced software that is clearly “more than just CT”. Proven over many years protecting events such as G7 Summits, NATO conferences, the Commonwealth Games, the UCI World Cycling Championships and numerous VIP security operations, it provides:
- Objective assessment of a great many of the potential threats faced
- Evidence to support senior-level understanding and review of the assessed security picture and proposed defensive measures
- The ranking of potential threat locations to enable effective use of available resources, and the scaling of activities in response to changing threat intelligence
- Communication of plans to frontline officers, and other involved agencies.
See it for yourself—arrange a demo now
Those making critical strategic and tactical decisions on policing and security at major events need to see for themselves how this advanced technology can be used to mitigate risk and support the best possible use of resources.
To arrange a CTS-PRAS demo call Cunning Running on +44 (0)1794 834750 or email enquiries@cunningrunning.co.uk
Stay in touch by following the Cunning Running company page on LinkedIn, or the LinkedIn pages of John Overend or Phil Cowell.
Further reading:
Sadly, there’s never been a greater need for CTS-PRAS…
An introduction to CTS-PRAS software and its use in Counter Terrorism.
CTS-PRAS: the integrated Counter Terrorism planning and analysis software with use cases far beyond CT
A general introduction to the CTS-PRAS software’s applicability for other use cases such as airport and CNI protection, major events protection, search operations, and firearms operations.
Flight of foot: How deploying advanced CTS-PRAS software can protect airports and their users from a wide range of threats
A closer look at ‘airport and CNI protection’ use cases.
