Even though COVID-19 prevented music festivals from happening last year, the music festival industry has seen an explosive increase in popularity. Over the years, music festivals have been transformed from underground events for a niche target audience to a mainstream business for the masses. More than 32 million people attend music festivals each year and one festival can gross millions of dollars. Big name festivals like Coachella, Electric Daisy Carnival, and Lollapalooza see thousands of attendees every year and tickets sell out instantly. However, incidents are bound to happen when a large group of people come together to have a good time. As the music festival industry grows, so does the need for better music festival security. Here are some ways video surveillance is being used to provide a safer event.
Better Monitoring
Even though music festivals hire security teams to monitor their events, their abilities are severely limited. For each security guard, there can be hundreds of people that they are tasked with watching over. Since there’s so many people for them to monitor, it’s easy for them to get distracted and miss seeing things. Furthermore, security personnel have a limited range of view and may not be able to see what is happening within crowds. For increased music festival security, events can utilize video surveillance in combination with security guards. Video surveillance acts as a second virtual eye for security teams so that they can keep watch over more areas from a centralized location. In addition, video analytics can be applied to security footage to help detect potential threats in real-time. That way, security personnel will be alerted of any suspicious activity that they might have missed while monitoring.
Crowd Control
A single music festival can have thousands of attendees at one time so overcrowding is a common issue. Many people just accept overcrowding as an unavoidable problem, but it is a safety hazard that can have detrimental effects. For example, people could get injured after getting caught up in a stampede or a bridge could collapse under the weight of too many pedestrians. Security teams are usually present to act as crowd control, but they are not able to be everywhere at once or see everything that is happening. Along with providing better music festival security, video surveillance can be used as an effective tool for controlling crowds. Using video surveillance, security teams will be able to easily see if a crowd is beginning to form in a specific area. Personnel can then be dispatched to take care of the situation early on.
Parking Lot Surveillance
Music festivals are large-scale events intended for thousands of people. The immediate festival grounds can span hundreds of acres and the same goes for the parking lots. These parking lots are prime targets of car break-ins because they’re expansive areas with limited monitoring. Often times, event planners will skimp on hiring parking lot patrollers to hire more security guards for the stages. As an alternative to hiring patrollers, events could instead use video surveillance to monitor the parking lots. This way, security teams will be able to keep an eye on parking lots and the festival grounds simultaneously. Doing this increases music festival security without sacrificing resources.
Crime Detection
Music festivals are high-risk for crime because the amount of people that are there makes it easy for shady activities to go unnoticed. Even though security teams do their best to screen visitors for prohibited items before they enter the event, it’s not uncommon for things to slip through. One weapon that is smuggled in can threaten the lives of thousands of people. Additionally, many people see music festivals as an opportunity to use or distribute illegal substances. Another common crime at music festivals is pickpocketing. Many festivals have started to plant undercover cops in the crowds to catch any crime, but their range of view is limited and this method drains resources. A better method of increasing music festival security would be to use video surveillance. Video surveillance gives authorities a closer look at what is happening within the crowds so that they’ll be able to catch more things.
Faster Response Time
In addition to increasing music festival security, video surveillance enables personnel to respond to situations quicker. In some cases, their response time can determine life or death. Unfortunately, drug overdoses are not unheard of at music festivals and medical teams are necessary to respond to these events. But with thousands of people crowded together under a dark sky, it can be difficult for medical professionals to quickly locate a person in need of medical assistance. By the time they reach the person, it might be too late. Although video surveillance does not prevent drug overdoses, it does help personnel to respond to incidents faster. For example, if someone notifies the nearest security guard that their friend has passed out, the security guard will be able to alert the security team. The team can then access the security camera in that area to scan the crowd and locate the exact location of the person. This location will then be sent to the medical team so that they’ll be able to instantly find the person without having to waste time skimming the crowd.
Wrap Up
Even though music festivals are not happening right now, it’s only a matter of time until they make their comeback. Festival enthusiasts are anticipating their return and when that happens, the crowd is expected to be bigger and more energetic than ever. In order to handle these events, music festival security must be amped up and there’s no better time to prepare than now. If you would like to start designing your festival security system, then contact us today!