Juliette Kayyem, Thomas Drohan, Francesco Marelli, Alexander Loidolt, Dale Sheehan, Roberto Di Pietro, Giovanni Russo, Dimitris Dardanis during the Securing Sport 2020 Expert Debates yesterday.
Doha: Taking a multifaceted approach towards analysing the issues in sport security, leading international specialists gathered during Securing Sport 2020 Expert Debates to examine and discuss some of the key industry aspects.
Some of the key aspects discussed during the yesterday's virtual event of the flagship conference of the International Centre for Sport Security (ICSS), were the use of big data in combatting the infiltration of transnational organised crime in sport, the role of sponsors in safeguarding sport and developing an international framework on private security at major sporting events.
The objectives of the panels were to present an open debate on the current challenges, such as on the use and analysis of Big Data in combatting crimes in sport, the role of sports sponsors in the organisation, sustainability and legacy of sport events of national, regional and international interest and exploring the development of frameworks from which bidding and host nations, events’ organisers and the private security industry can develop their private security strategies for MSE’s
Juliette Kayyem, Belfer Senior Lecturer International Security at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government and Faculty Chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects, said: “When you think of sharing big data one of the things that big data is really helpful is the tactical deployment of resources.”
Speaking of the big data and its importance in fighting crime in sport, Giovanni Russo, Deputy Head Prosecutor of the Italian Antimafia and Anti-terrorism National Directorate said: “Sport is not just a social phenomenon. It’s now a sector of the economy that has seen its importance growing exponentially in the last few decades. Due to this fact, a large number of people with economic interests started to get involved in sport which led to the observation that sport represents a corruption risk and vulnerability to be controlled by crime.”
“This indicates the need for an overall and not fragmented view of the phenomena of crime in sport and the need for a holistic approach that allows to correctly detect and interpret information. We are talking about big data and algorithms that are capable of collecting and processing many variables in a short time and present visual results with meaningful logics and forecast patterns to help fight organised crime,” Russo said.
Phil Walker, Lead, Major Events Program, OSAC, Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Department of State said: “The private sector is a force of multiplier in major events. They are a benefit at the operational level.”
Filip Maes, Senior Director, Global Security & Safety, Visa, Inc said: “The business sector can only be successful if the event is successful. Information sharing is the key to success”
The International Centre for Sport Security is an international non-profit organisation established in 2010 with the aim of safeguarding sport in terms of safety, security and integrity and to protect the opportunities sport can generate in the area of socio-economic development.
Working in close cooperation with multiple sectors, the ICSS assists event organisers, governments as well as international, continental, national and local sports stakeholders by promoting and providing best practices, research, training, consultancy services and other forms of capacity building to safeguard major sporting events and sport at large.
Further information about the ICSS can be found at www.theicss.org
