On the 23rd June 2022 CPTED-UK participated in the second pilot of the S4AllCities project in Pilsen, Czech Republic. The event was hosted under an Official Tactical Exercise of the Integrated Rescue Systems, organised by the Police of the Czech Republic. The host of this event was a project partner SITMP (Sprava informacnich technologii mesta Plzne), the public company that provides ICT services and support to the City of Pilsen.
Pilsen was the second pilot city after Trikala where the technologies of the S4AllCities project were demonstrated. The pilot was simulating an attack against the football fans followed by the intervention of the first responders, while test using multiple innovative technologies ranging from video analytics to evacuation simulation and traffic modelling.
The tested technologies included:
- Video analytics: Gun and knife detection, Unusual behaviour in the crowd detection, Abandoned luggage alert, Unauthorised access alert, Sentiments analysis,
- UAVs streaming
- Traffic sensors integration
- City CCTV cameras integration with video analytics,
- 3D model of the stadium & city
- Modelling & Simulation tools: Traffic, Evacuation, Smoke and Fire, Mass shooting etc.
It was held at the Doosan Arena football stadium which has hosted matches of the Champions League and the Europa League and has a capacity of almost 11,700 spectators. The stadium is located close to the city centre and in the vicinity of the Pilsner Urquell brewery.
The Pilsen pilot simulated a terrorist attack against the fans of a football club which took place during a football match and was followed by the evacuation of the stadium. The scenario was developed by the Regional Directorate of the Police of the Czech Republic and was approved as an official tactical exercise of the Integrated Rescue System (IRS) of the Pilsen region. The representatives of the IRS were keen to test the S4AllCities technologies that could improve the efficiency of their operations during a crisis situation.
And what was the scenario? During a football match two attackers were acting together against the fans of a football club. One of them was wearing a backpack and initiates smoke in the inner area of the stands, on the evacuation route with the aim to reduce the spatial orientation of the fans. After causing panic, he joined the fleeing crowd of the fans and tried to leave the stadium, attempting to abandon the backpack outside. The second attacker was equipped with a knife and a short firearm. He took advantage of the resulting panic and started attacking the fans. First responders were on their way and evacuation started.
The exercise involved about 200 professionals from the training units of the Integrated Rescue System and 600 volunteers representing the fans. It ran twice – the first part aimed at verifying the functionality of the S4AllCities consortium’s technologies and validate their practical application. Second run was the tactical exercise itself. In order to make the scenario of this part as real as possible, volunteers wore make-up to simulate specific injuries, ranging from light injuries to those incompatible with life.
The pilot managed to successfully demonstrate the S4AllCities functionalities to shareholders who provided valuable feedback.
The S4AllCities project, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, is an innovative action that develops a system dedicated to securing soft targets, public spaces and smart cities at large against physical and cyber threats. S4AllCities integrates affordable solutions that detect, localize and alert on illicit or potentially harming activities directed at the smart city’s citizens and assets. These detections are enhanced with preliminary risk assessments and real-time contextual knowledge to produce augmented situational awareness that supports city operators and first responders in addressing security threats.
