Four mobile security trailers gave Washington State Ferries flexible coverage, remote visibility, and faster video investigations as the agency prepared for increased passenger volumes.
At a glance
4 mobile security trailers deployed
~1 week from setup through placement at terminals
24/7 monitoring team with remote camera access
Washington State Ferries (WSF), a division of the Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT), operates the largest ferry system in the United States, moving passengers and vehicles throughout the Puget Sound region.
Ahead of the World Cup, WSF was preparing for an increase in travelers — including visitors from around the world who might be navigating the ferry system for the first time.
For Chris Catalanotto, Company Security Officer and Emergency Management Coordinator for Washington State Ferries, the priority was making sure the organization could safely manage changing passenger volumes while maintaining visibility across its terminals.
“Our big focus was the expected large volume of people who were going to be transiting through our system,” Catalanotto said. “We wanted to ensure we had the ability to move people safely and securely through the facilities.”
Extending security coverage beyond fixed infrastructure
WSF already had fixed security cameras throughout its facilities. But preparing for a major event presented a different challenge.
Passenger queues and traffic patterns could shift as volumes increased. Existing cameras covered their established fields of view, but they could not easily move as operations changed.
WSF wanted a way to add coverage where it was needed and reposition it as conditions changed.
“Being able to be nimble and move things around as needed was really key,” Catalanotto said. “If volumes coming through the terminals changed, or we anticipated a change in the operating environment, just being able to move those trailers around or from terminal to terminal was one of the major reasons for bringing those in.”
That flexibility was especially useful when changing passenger flows created areas that fixed cameras could not capture as clearly.
“There are just areas where our fixed infrastructure can only see so far,” Catalanotto said. “If you're changing the way you move passengers through a facility because of a crowd size, being able to broaden the coverage and move the security trailers around to capture that really crisply is great.”
The trailers also served as a force multiplier, giving the security team additional visibility while employees focused on safely moving passengers through the facilities.
Four trailers deployed in approximately one week
WSF ultimately deployed four mobile security trailers across its system.
From receiving and setting up the equipment to moving the trailers into position at individual terminals, the deployment took approximately one week.
The project came together in partnership with Ednetics, WSF's technology partner. Equipment was delivered to a WSF maintenance facility in South Seattle, where Ednetics worked alongside WSF to assemble the trailers and bring the systems online.
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For John McKay, Terminal Technologies Manager for Washington State Ferries, the deployment was also an opportunity to make sure WSF's technology teams understood how to manage the new equipment.
“One of the big key pieces was making sure that my technicians understood the equipment, understood how to maintain and manage these devices, and how the process was going to be when we needed to deploy the equipment,” McKay said.
Catalanotto participated as well so his security team could understand how the trailers could be used in the field and coordinate with terminal maintenance teams when units needed to be relocated.
Seeing what was happening on the ground — from anywhere
Once deployed, the trailers gave WSF another source of real-time visibility at its terminals.
Security personnel could monitor cameras from their phones, while WSF's 24/7 monitoring team could access footage remotely to understand what was happening at each location.
“We were able to use them for remote access, being able to monitor from our phones or have our 24/7 monitoring team look at the cameras and gain situational awareness for what was happening within each terminal,” Catalanotto said.
That visibility helped the team make operational decisions as passenger flows changed.
“We could see what was going on on the ground and maybe change the way we would queue passengers based on what we were seeing in those areas,” he said.
The team also used line-crossing alerts to monitor where queues were forming and determine when passenger flow might need to be adjusted.
For Catalanotto, the physical presence of the trailers had value as well.
“The fact that it's understood that we've got cameras and we're serious about security and the safety of our passengers and colleagues was one of the main drivers,” he said.
Making video easier to access and investigate
The trailers also made video easier to access and search.
WSF's existing environment primarily relied on fixed cameras and on-site access. With the new system, authorized users could access footage remotely from their phones or offices and search for people or vehicles when needed.
“One of the big benefits was turning it on — plug and play, away it went,” McKay said. “It's easy for these guys to access on their mobile device, easy to access from any of the offices, and easy to search.”
That easier access to video can matter well beyond major events.
Finding relevant footage more effectively
One common ferry scenario shows why that can matter.
Passengers sometimes drive their vehicle onto a ferry, then inadvertently walk off at their destination without it. Until WSF can confirm that the passenger safely left the vessel, the situation may need to be treated as a potential person-overboard incident.
“Having tools to quickly determine whether or not a person safely walked off their car, or went overboard, is incredibly helpful and eliminates some of that manual process of just pouring through camera footage,” Catalanotto said.
The same urgency can apply when teams need to locate a missing or high-risk passenger, such as someone experiencing dementia or Alzheimer's disease.
“Every second counts in an emergency like that,” Catalanotto said.
McKay said that once the team identified an initial match, related footage could be pulled together for further review.
“Once we initially find the person or the vehicle that we're looking for and highlight it, the system pulls the clips that are associated with that pretty quickly,” McKay said.
For emergency management, “boring is better”
Despite the additional preparation, there wasn't a single dramatic security event that defined the World Cup deployment.
For Catalanotto, that was a positive outcome.
“Having no issues is kind of a hallmark of really good preparation and a system that is working well,” he said. “We planned a lot in advance, and the tools helped us ensure we didn't have any notable incidents.”
His takeaway was simple:
“When you're talking emergency management and security, boring is better.”
Applying the lessons beyond the World Cup
WSF also sees uses for the trailers beyond the World Cup.
Seattle summers and major sporting events can bring unusually high passenger volumes through the ferry system. Construction projects can temporarily obstruct existing sightlines or change how people move through terminals.
“If we anticipate an event that might have a larger volume, just being able to move it around to capture any sort of angles we might not be able to cover otherwise is really helpful,” Catalanotto said.
The same applies during construction.
“If there are projects going on in the terminal that might hamper sightlines, being able to open up that situational awareness again and see more of what we need to see to ensure the safety of everyone in the terminal is really useful,” he said.
For McKay, one of the biggest lessons was how straightforward the system was for IT to manage.
“My team learned from the IT side this was a pretty easy system to manage and handle,” he said.
For Catalanotto, it came back to flexibility.
“Physically, just being able to deploy them and move them around as needed, make adjustments to the actual cameras, and see what we need to see — that was one of the brightest spots of it all,” he said.
Disclaimer: Washington State Department of Transportation does not endorse any particular vendor, product, or service.