Mexico City, the world’s most ambitious urban security programme

Thales, in partnership with Telmex, a leading telecommunications provider in Mexico and Latin America, has once again been selected by Mexico City to integrate a further 15,000 video surveillance cameras to protect citizens as part of the Ciudad Segura project.

Under this new contract, Mexico City will double the capacity of its urban security system, the most advanced of its kind in the world.

With 20 million inhabitants, Mexico City is the world’s third-largest metropolis and faces a complex set of public safety risks and security challenges. In 2009, the city authorities launched the Ciudad Segura programme, a large-scale project to increase crisis preparedness, bring down crime rates and enhance multi-agency coordination and efficiency.
 

Making Mexico City safer and more efficient

To address this unique challenge, Thales and telecoms operator Telmex delivered a complete, integrated urban security solution drawing extensively on Thales’s security track record and acknowledged expertise as a systems integrator.
The solution uses the latest technologies to provide a city-wide command, control and emergency management capability:

- Unified command and control system:

• Computerised Command, Control, Communications and Intelligence (C4I) centre with 250 positions
• Five Command & Control centres (C2) with 35 to 60 positions
• Two Mobile Command & Control units (C2M)

- Force tracking and status monitoring, emergency call handling and dispatching
- Over 15,000 CCTV cameras for urban surveillance, traffi c management and license plate recognition with no structural limits to expansion
- Development platform with national engineering school
- Network Operational Centre / System Operational Centre
- Dedicated training facility
 

The Mobile Command and Control system is deployed, in particular, during the annual pilgrimage to the Basilica de Guadalupe, which attracts more than 6 million people and is the second-largest pilgrimage in the Christian world.
Used to monitor crowd density and movements, the system provides comprehensive security coverage at this major event, once again demonstrating the performance and flexibility of Thales integrated solutions and their ability to ensure citizen security at large events.
 

Delivering measurable results every day

The Ciudad Segura project has brought noticeable improvements in response effectiveness and citizen security, helping to make one of the world’s largest and most cosmopolitan cities more attractive for visitors and citizens alike.
 

Based on feedback from operators and from the citizens themselves, the systems in place have been continuously optimised to further improve performance. The inhabitants of Mexico City have quickly come to appreciate the enhanced sense of security in their city and are fully supportive of plans by the city authorities to further develop their urban security programme.
 

Mexico City has attracted substantial inward investment including over 1,600 new businesses during the first months of the programme going live, according to the Economic Development Secretary for the Federal District.

Whilst some financial incentives are offered to newly established companies, the main reason for this growth is firmly believed to be perceived higher levels of public safety within Mexico City than elsewhere in the country.
 

Tourism is becoming an increasingly important and growing source of revenue. At a national level Mexico welcomed a record 24 million international visitors in 2012, with tourism growing by 10.5% and generating € 9 billion. Mexico City remains the single destination for 70% of tourists, underlining the importance of security for the local authorities.