Full Story...

American Security, the largest independently owned security company in the Midwest, today helped unveil a new, state-of-the-art communications platform for the City of Saint Paul that will significantly enhance community safety. The rollout of the new system took place this morning at a press conference attended by Saint Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Saint Paul Chief of Police John Harrington. The announcement included a demonstration of how the new platform - the Saint Paul CityWorkSite - will enhance community safety and extend the efforts of the police department through enhanced communications and more effective sharing of information.

"As the largest provider of private security personnel in Saint Paul, we're vitally interested in making the communities we serve safer," said Steven Klein, chief operating officer of American Security, LLC. "NorthWrite's CityWorkSite platform is a great tool that enhances the ability of private security personnel and Saint Paul businesses to help protect the community and to assist local law enforcement. Good communications is the bedrock of community safety and this platform makes it possible to share critical public safety information within moments. That's good news for residents, for business and for visitors and bad news for those who want to take advantage of St. Paul's open and welcoming spirit."

The Atlanta Police Foundation and The Atlanta Police Department, in partnership with Mayor Shirley Franklin, the Atlanta Security Council, Central Atlanta Progress, Atlanta Downtown Improvement District, and Midtown Alliance is pleased to announce the launch of OPERATION SHIELD, a ‘for members only’ program that exercises a fully integrated approach to carrying out our dual-fold mission of addressing crime prevention and emergency preparedness. Operation Shield’s four–channel success formula enables members to effectively bridge communication gaps between the Atlanta Police Department and Atlanta’s business community; they include:

Atlanta CityWorkSite : Specifically designed for Atlanta / about Atlanta, Atlanta City Worksite serves as Operation Shield’s secure web based platform channel that provides real time communications and information sharing amongst security community leaders including the Atlanta Police Department, contract and in house private security professionals, property and facilities management, and transit via text messaging, email, pager, and fax. Many major US cities have already implemented a similar program and experienced immediate results which included increased response rates, reduced crime statistics, and stronger communications among public and private sector members.

Downtown St. Paul business owners are teaming up with city police in an effort to track criminals more efficiently. The city of St. Paul launched a new state of the art communications system that will allow security officers at 100 downtown buildings and police officers on patrol to share information better.

The system is called CityWorkSite and it will allow people to send and receive text messages through their cell phones about local crime, including photos of suspects on the run or lost children.

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman said it will help make the city safer especially with the Republican National Convention coming in 2008.The city of Minneapolis launched a similar version of the same program in 2005 in response to criminal activity downtown. City leaders say that the system has been effective.