The New Year brings the possibility of a fresh start, new ideas and goals, and hope for a better tomorrow. And never before has a year started out with such a large focus on how the future can be improved through the promise of technology.
City roadways across the world are busier than they have ever been, a record number of vehicles traveling to and from work, school, the gym and wherever else commuters need to be on a daily basis.
Smart city leaders are rightfully concerned about cybersecurity. Securing smart digital cities with millions of IOT devices from rogue actors with easy access to Internet connections anywhere in the world requires constant vigilant effort. Unfortunately, away from all the headlines of cybersecurity lies a new, but equally concerning threat: rogue actors with easy access to inexpensive drones that can violate individual privacy, menace citizenry in public spaces, and deliver contraband or even lethal payloads.
Festival-goers should expect enhanced security at Lollapalooza this weekend in Chicago, as more police, fencing, bag restrictions and airport-style screening are added to the annual Grant Park event.
By 2040, nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of the world’s population will call metropolitan areas home. This rapid urbanization places even greater strain on government agencies and infrastructures to remain agile and maintain public order – and potentially do so without the added resources to match community growth.
More police and resident interactions in St. Louis will be captured by body cameras by the end of the year as eight area police departments jointly landed a $400,000 federal grant to equip about 260 officers with body cameras.
In San Francisco, the Union Square Business Improvement District launched an outdoor security camera program in 2012, starting with six privately-owned cameras, and it has since raised more than $3 million in grant money and outfitted 40 property owners with cameras, extending the network to around 350 cameras that share footage with police.
Officials would have a say in the policies that govern surveillance tools and would get annual reports on them – including what data was shared, with whom, where surveillance happened, whether complaints resulted, and information about costs and data breaches.
The global market for city surveillance equipment surpassed $3 billion in 2017, and it’s expected to grow at an average annual rate of 14.6 percent from 2016 to 2021, according to a report from IHS Markit.
In February, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced a plan to upgrade security cameras and add new ones at Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) stations and bus turnarounds, which would be funded by a fee hike for Uber and Lyft ride-sharing services.