When Brian Vaughan walks a construction site, visits a regional office or checks in at an equipment supply facility, he always keeps his phone and tablet close by. Across their screens, a steady stream of real-time information flows in — security camera feeds, police and fire scanner transcripts, and local news and social media updates. Together, they create a rolling collage of situational awareness data that he relies on throughout the day.
“That’s how I can monitor alerts, vet information, assess threats and collaborate wherever I am,” said Vaughan, a former police officer who oversees corporate security for Brasfield & Gorrie, one of the leading general contractors in the Southeast, from its Atlanta office. When needed, he could quickly tap into his deep network of law enforcement contacts.
Around the country, public safety and private security have deepened their collaboration in recent years — a trend fueled in part by growing technology integration and the rise of real-time crime centers.
Amid an increase in physical threats against executives and organizations, escalating cybersecurity risks and a rise in fraud, property crime and workplace violence, corporations are ramping up their security spending, according to the World Security Report, with investments in new technologies at the top of the list.
“Public-private security partnerships have been there for a long time,” said Major Stan Bell with the Cobb County Police Department in suburban Atlanta. “Technology has just pushed them to a new level.”
Bell, a 27-year law enforcement veteran who rejoined the agency after his retirement, is the department’s integration officer. In this role, he acts as the liaison between the agency’s real-time crime center and the community. Cobb County is a hub for several large corporations, including The Home Depot’s Store Support Center, RaceTrac and Lockheed Martin. Truist Park, home of the Atlanta Braves baseball team, is also located there.
Real-time visibility for a seamless response
Businesses operating in the county can register their video cameras with the police department. The camera locations then show up on the agency’s interactive map, but police don’t have automatic access to the feeds. If a business chooses to fully integrate its cameras, police can view live footage.
“If we get a 911 call from a location where cameras are integrated, we can immediately pull additional information and relay it to the officers on the road,” Bell said. “That makes the response seamless.”
Through separate agreements, companies can also share data from other security technologies with police, such as license plate readers and GPS trackers.
Alternatively, businesses may decide to integrate only selected cameras for a limited time or provide police with a link to video footage to assist with an investigation.
Cobb Police currently have live access to about 12,800 camera feeds, including streams from county-owned cameras, traffic cameras, cameras shared with neighboring law enforcement agencies and cameras from private businesses.
Atlanta Police — Georgia’s largest law enforcement agency — can access about 25,000 cameras in the city, 20,000 of which come from the private sector, said Chief Darin Schierbaum.
Having close relationships with the private security community “is part of our culture and part of the foundation that keeps the city safe,” Schierbaum added.
Atlanta also provides a direct, subscription-based radio link between private security, patrol officers and the city’s 911 dispatch center. The system, called Connect Radio, formerly COMNET, is managed by the nonprofit Atlanta Police Foundation.
When deploying technology, Bell said law enforcement and private security share core goals of assessing, mitigating and managing risks and threats.
Different mandates, different capabilities
Yet police and private security operate under different mandates and constraints and bring different strengths to the table. Police hold legal authorities that corporate security does not, primarily the authority to enforce the law, execute search warrants and make arrests across public and private jurisdictions. Corporate security is restricted to private property and typically cannot compel records or enter restricted government databases.
On the other hand, “corporate security has access to information across jurisdictional lines and technology that far exceeds the capabilities of many local law enforcement agencies,” Vaughan said, noting he served as a police officer in several metro Atlanta agencies for 15 years with assignments in SWAT and community outreach.
Modern security tools include security cameras, license plate readers, access control and screening devices, weapons detection systems, robotic dogs and drones. Many of these tools are AI-enabled and can be integrated across platforms. In a 21st-century security environment, physical surveillance and cybersecurity measures are increasingly intertwined.
A company’s size, location, budget and industry determine its security control setups. At Brasfield & Gorrie, which is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, security concerns range from workplace safety to theft, trespassing and vandalism. The company was the main contractor for the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.
Brasfield & Gorrie relies on security cameras and other technologies to protect its more than 220 active job sites, 13 office locations and 4,000-plus employees. For broader contextual data, Vaughan also uses an AI-driven open-source intelligence platform that provides geotagged alerts.
“It’s a force multiplier, especially for smaller security teams,” he said.
Preparing for mega-events: The FIFA World Cup test case
Cooperation between law enforcement and the private security sector will take center stage this summer, when the FIFA World Cup comes to North America. With eight matches, including the semifinal, Atlanta is one of 11 host cities in the U.S. for what is expected to be the biggest sporting event in history.
“The FIFA World Cup, that’s like eight Super Bowls in five weeks,” said Joe Coomer, vice president of security at AMB Sports and Entertainment, which operates Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The venue is home to the Atlanta Falcons and Major League Soccer’s Atlanta United — and the site for Atlanta’s eight World Cup matches this summer.
Coomer said his team was ready for the global tournament and was confident about taking on the complex security challenges that come with it. The protocols and procedures are put into practice “at every NFL game, at every MLS match, at every concert” the stadium hosts, he said.
Coomer leads a department of about 40 full-time staff members and contracts with a private security provider. On game days, his team is supported by 300 additional off-duty police officers. During World Cup matches, he expects those numbers to double.
State-of-the-art technology tools underpin the security operations. Since its opening in 2017, Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been “a test lab for guest innovation,” Coomer said. “And that also relates to security.”
The stadium was among the first to introduce frictionless security screening, which can distinguish between different metallic objects, allowing for a faster and more seamless screening process. An early adopter of drone detection technology, Coomer’s department also operates a robotic patrol dog on the stadium perimeter.
Critical systems are constantly tested, adjusted and refined, Coomer said. There is regular joint training with stadium staff and public safety teams, from tabletop exercises to large-scale functional exercises with hundreds of first responders. Coordination with local, state and federal law enforcement agencies has become a well-oiled operation, Coomer noted.
Technology is the tool — relationships make it work
Effective public-private security collaboration is rooted in routine day-to-day interactions, Bell said.
“The technology is immensely helpful,” he said. “But technology is nothing without the relationships.”
Those relationships are built when police officers work off-duty jobs for businesses, solidified when corporate security chiefs sit alongside police in joint operations centers during high-stakes events and nurtured in professional forums and meeting groups.
Vaughan finds these interconnected intelligence groups invaluable. In-person gatherings offer networking opportunities “where you shake hands, put a face with the name, exchange a business card and a challenge coin,” he said.
But mostly, the groups serve as a powerful way to expedite information sharing. In the event of a threat, tapping into the group’s collective intelligence can “help you access, evaluate and disseminate information much quicker than through traditional channels,” he said.
In the past, group members from across the country proactively notified him about suspicious activity near some of his firm’s construction sites, he said. Conversely, he recently identified a threat against an executive from a different company. Through encrypted chat, he alerted the firm’s corporate security team and contacted the FBI.
Vaughan, who started as a firefighter and EMT before becoming a police officer, has more than 20 years of combined public safety and emergency management experience. It allows him to take a holistic approach to his corporate security role — deploying technology, connecting with first responders across disciplines and teaching security awareness and first aid classes.
His law enforcement background makes it easier for him to relate to police officers, whether the situation involves a theft investigation or an active threat at a work site. After all, he still understands and speaks cop lingo, he said with a wry smile. That echo of familiarity — being able to read between the lines and pick up on body language — often sharpens his risk assessments, he said.
Bell said communication tends to be more efficient when his corporate security counterparts have a law enforcement or military background. “I typically have less translating to do,” he said.
Aligning public authority with corporate culture
Still, different priorities, procedures and cultures between police and corporate security can occasionally lead to friction.
One difference is in the way police and private security communicate and respond to a potential threat that may not be an obvious high risk — like an unwanted person in the lobby yelling incoherent rants, who could be a mentally ill individual or a disgruntled ex-employee.
In situations like these, the business “doesn’t necessarily want police officers storming through the front door and creating a scene,” Bell said. From a corporate perspective, “it is bad optics,” he continued. It creates panic, disrupts the workflow, scares off clients and potentially traumatizes employees.
Concerns about privacy, liability and proprietary information make some businesses hesitant to fully integrate their cameras and other data feeds with the local police department. To counter any unease, Bell said law enforcement has strict guidelines in place, including transparency policies and audit trails. But he also learned that “this is not my house,” he said — and accepted that public-private partnerships often develop in stages.
“I’d rather have a good relationship with the business than have it my way,” he said, laughing. “It is more sustainable and leaves the door open for opportunity.”
Vaughan said weighing threat risk against internal disruptions is a constant, often difficult balancing act, and putting a price tag on money saved by implementing security controls is nearly impossible.
“How do you measure something that hopefully doesn’t happen?” he said. “How do you measure deterrence?”
Bell and Vaughan said emerging technologies that integrate across platforms can help overcome divides, break up silos and open the door to a new level of collaboration between police and private sector security.
“It’s a road that goes two ways,” Vaughan added. Corporate security can be a powerful resource for law enforcement by providing broader context or specific pieces of the puzzle. In return, police can access and vet information that may be vital to businesses and their employees.
“Sharing critical information benefits public safety, private security and the community as a whole,” he said — especially when that information is only a swipe away.
