Consortium to Combat Targeted Crowd Attacks

“This project provides the potential to collaborate with DHS, as well as academic, public and private partners to address real-world needs and make our buildings, facilities and societies safer,” Jin said. “If our proposed system is successful, its potential for proactive, real-time responsiveness and situational awareness could change how police and emergency response crews react to terrorist and criminal attacks and emergencies.”

“Through this center, we will have access to experiment with crowd management and security procedures on the extensive campus bus system, lecture halls and dining halls, the campus movie theater and concert venues, and other facilities,” Roberts added. “What we learn from using Rutgers as a ‘living lab’ will provide ideas that can be extended to hundreds of thousands of soft targets and crowded places that the new center will work to protect.”

The new center will also have an extensive program of education and workforce development, co-led by Margaret Cozzens, a research professor at Rutgers University’s CCICADA Center.

“We are excited to be preparing the next generation homeland security workforce,” said Cozzens.

According to DHS, each Center of Excellence is led by a United States college or university in partnership with other academic institutions, industry, national laboratories and other federally funded research and development centers. The ESE research portfolio brings together the best across the nation to ensure DHS counterterrorism capabilities keep pace with new or emerging threats. 

Roberts said Rutgers has worked with DHS for more than a decade to develop crowd-safety solutions to combat targeted attacks, tackling security issues such as human trafficking, airport security and plans to secure major mass transit hubs, sports stadiums and other venues nationwide.

Rutgers notes that notable achievements spearheaded by Rutgers’ first DHS-funded center, CCICADA, include creating best practices for stadium security that are now used by all major professional sports leagues in the United States; helping the United States Coast Guard trap hoax callers; developing new procedures for container inspection at ports in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection; preparing crowd simulations to evacuate the world’s busiest bus terminal at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and addressing key supply chain challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Over the past decade, our work has led me behind the scenes to some of America’s most iconic sports venues, such as Yankee Stadium,” said Roberts. “We have developed new approaches to security that safeguard the millions of Americans who flock to our major stadiums, arenas and transportation hubs. Hundreds of thousands of soft targets and crowded places such as schools, places of worship and subway stations are still in need of action plans. We are delighted to have a new opportunity to work with DHS to extend our ideas to protect these locations.”