Lessons to be learned

Lessons do however have to be learnt from the distressing scenes we witnessed during week one.

According to reports from several news outlets, there was an apparent lack of real time co-operation and co-ordination between bodies tasked with different aspects of tournament management.

From emergency services to stadium security, to local authorities and police spotters out in the streets; all those authorised at major events like this, should have the appropriate access to real time, consistent information to keep us safe.

Key to the co-operation and co-ordination between these government bodies is the need to “speak the same language.”

What I mean by that is the need that all these agencies are connected through the same technology that provides real-time information exchange to be available to those who can act upon it.

If this type of co-operation technology was deployed and properly used in France, it is less likely that we would see hooligans rampaging unchallenged because the resources had been deployed to the wrong place.

With the establishment of proper communications channels, the appropriate resources could be redeployed in an instant, or even more impressively – pre-deployed based on previous data about the likelihood of an incident.

The technology exists already, and one would hope officials in Rio, Russia and other forthcoming major event organisers have at least considered its benefits.

Ian Carr

Director, Intermedix, Europe (Reading, Berks, UK.)