Fleet Driver Risk Management

Project Objective:

MVS has examined some of the challenges and concerns related to Armored Cars, Armored Trucks, Executive VIP vehicles, and what can be achieved by integration of an “Active Mobile Video” system in these specialized applications that can be of value to the manufacturer or dealer of the vehicle from a selling point, as well as greatly benefit the customer or user of the vehicle by enhancing the evidence documentation as well as active technologies supported by the cellular gateway for improved oversight and risk management.

Armored Cars, Armored Trucks and Executive VIP vehicles are not just for:

• Foreign Politicians
• Foreign Religious leaders
• Foreign Heads of State 
• Foreign Royalty
• Foreign US Business Leaders

There are very good reasons why so many are now purchasing professionally manufactured or modified Executive VIP or Armored Cars in the USA.

• The US Economy is in worse shape in recorded history, so the motivation for theft of valuable cargo or hostage for ransom is now much higher.
• US home mortgage defaults is at an all time high, unemployment soaring, so now many are desperate and have little to lose from a criminal venture.
• There have been 4,000,000 violent crimes within the USA in the last 5 years
• The best estimates are approximately 40,000+ kidnappings each year in the USA.
• Much more than half of those kidnappings end in ransom payments.
• Ransom payments can range from $100,000 to well over $2,000,000
• VIPs and valuable assets that were in the past in risk, to the degree they required armored vehicle transport, are now exposed to much higher risk due to these desperate times.

The Armored Vehicle Transport Project primarily targeted 2 areas of concern:

• Risk Management 
• Evidence Documentation

Risk Management 

Transport Record

In the normal process of transport operations an accurate, automatic, unbiased and sequential record of what occurs within the vehicle, should be maintained. When problems arise or when questions of process, procedure, assertion of fault or liability litigation are brought up it is invaluable to be able to provide a complete, sequential and unbiased Transport Record to support and document the professional level of protection afforded by these vehicles, as well as the actions taken to insure their protection. 

The cargo being transported are extremely valued assets, so it is reasonable to surmise that when great expense has been taken to assure their safe transport, it is expected by all involved, that this process will be professional and limit the risk to loss. Human nature can often play havoc with the best plans.

Back in the early 1990s, I were contacted by one of the largest Armored Car services in GA to demo some of our Fleet Management 

devices on their transport vehicles. The Armored Trucks were manned by a crew of 3 armed officers to protect their cargo of thousands 

of pounds of coins they would pickup from several coin collection services and transport them to their facility, for counting, sorting,

 and transport to banks. From what I was told, there were only 2 primary operational requirements affecting the transport process: 

1-The driver was always to be behind the wheel so the vehicle could immediately be driven away in case of assault,  

2-The vehicle was never to be turned off, so there is not the possibility that a hard to start vehicle, or dead battery would prevent

 a rapid escape in case of assault.

Our first 30 day test results showed the vehicle was driven to a location each morning a few miles from the main facility, turned off,

 all doors were activated, and then the vehicle was stationary with the engine off for 15 minutes. Then later in the afternoon they

 repeated the process.

Supervisors we provided this information were in disbelief, as this was a direct violation of their primary requirements, and after they

 followed the vehicle in a unmarked car, it was learned that each morning the crew of 3 visited a fast food location, tuned the vehicle

 off and all went inside for breakfast, including the driver. Later in the day when the Armored Truck had a cargo of thousands of pounds 

of coins they repeated the process for their dinner. The risk exposure of the vehicle in the off, unmanned condition was staggering and this sent a shock wave up the chain of management.

This information opened their eyes to a mountain of risk and direct liability they had no idea they were exposed to. No matter how perfectly conceived and implemented a transportation process may be, there is always the variable that some Neolithic incompetent will step in and ignore your perfect process and think nothing of directly exposing your company or cargo to a mountain of risk that you believed was already addressed. 

This is where Active Mobile Video can provide an active and verifiable solution to reduce your risk and provide the level of control and 

oversight required to avert such unnecessary risk. 

Incident/Event automated Alerts
In the past those located at their company office, or at the police station have played a passive role in interactions with the armored vehicles in the field, as they must rely on those within the vehicles themselves to provide them information to react to.  Some may have tracking systems but in general there is only notification long after any opportunity to save the lives of those involved or protect valuable cargo has passed.

This is an area where major improvements can be made.

Automated and immediate alerts to CMS Operator, combined with redundant alerts via SMS and e-mail to supervisors via PDA, Blackberry or cell phone can help insure that every advantage that can be offered to those who might be able to send help directly or at least call for backup is available.

Direct CMS Operator / Supervisor Oversight

 It is a physical reality that those most valued for their experience and knowledge of process and procedure cannot be in more than one place at a time. However if those with the most experience could be provided with real time video from the vehicle under assault, live audio from inside the vehicle and outside the vehicle, plus the ability to communicate in real time with not only the passengers inside the Armored vehicle, but any others in the area, this would provide the most experienced supervisors or detectives with much of what they need to become an active participant in an unfolding event or situation that may be encountered by a much less trained and experienced driver or operators in the filed who could then benefit directly from the assistance or advice from a much more experienced supervisor who is watching what is happening as it happens.

Under Siege

In many cases assaults or terrorist acts against an armored car or executive transport vehicle are quick, without warning and over in a brief period of time. This creates a problem for those charged with the safety of the transported VIPs or valued cargo, the swiftness and confusion combined with the adrenalin of the moment make it very difficult to get a clear and accurate account of the events that actually occurred during an assault that may have only taken a few seconds.

While most assaults will be over quickly, in several high value assaults the period of the assault was extremely long and due to lack of communication ability by those inside the vehicle who were unable to respond there was no signal for help made in time to save the live of the occupants.

Due to the high caliber of protection offered by the leading Armored Car/VIP Executive vehicles, it is likely that those who were attacked in their vehicle will survive the immediate assault, as long as there is a reliable mechanism to immediately make others aware they are under assault and the ability to summon assistance is made in the first few seconds of the assault before communication can be defeated.

The integration and development of these technologies into a cohesive Cellular Gateway has been provided in a mobile video platform of such high quality manufacture that they are backed by a 5-Year Warranty. Continued feature development through articulation software to further enhance abilities are being developed to make the existing platform cross application compatible for many targeted market applications in the future

Evidence Documentation

The value of having “Expert Witness” in the form of an high tech “Active Mobile Video” system, that can provide unbiased, accurate, sequential video and audio recordings, immediately transmitted via 3G to a CMS Operator or by SMS or E-mail to the supervisor of the company could be instrumental to immediate summon assistance as well as start creating a evidence file before the incident is even over.

Imagine your driving down the road in your armored Mercedes VIP car, when a missile stops your vehicle. From out of the smoke you

 see your vehicle quickly under siege by 10+ men with automatic weapons shooting your car and tossing grenades at what is now left 

of it after the missile explosion.

Image you actually survive this assault! 

Could you even begin to imagine how difficult it would be to give an accurate detailed description that might actually assist the 

authorities in rounding up those responsible before they repeat the performance when you are not in your armored vehicle?

This actually happened in 1998 to Georgian President Eduard Shervardnadze, and yes he survived.

After The Assault

The problem often hindering law enforcement or military after the assault, and the endless yet vital questions they will ask of those who survived the assault to try to track down those responsible and stop them before they try again.

This is extremely important as once an assault against an Armored Car, Armored Cargo Transport or VIP Executive vehicle is defeated by the high quality and resilience of the vehicle, it is imperative to determine exactly what happened in order to track down the perpetrators.

Once a well-designed Armored Vehicle thwarts a determined foe, it is likely they will make another attempt when the targets are not inside the vehicle. 

In a swift surprise assault, where you are literally faced with your imminent death, that may only last a few seconds, could you provide the following information in a clear, rational and accurate manor?

How many assailants were involved?

Their physical descriptions?

Their clothing worn?

Any tattoos, scars or other identifying traits?

What language were they speaking?

Their vehicle descriptions?

Their vehicle license plates?

Their weapons employed?

Their tactics as employed against the armored vehicle?

Anything the may have said to the vehicle occupants?

Any verbal instructions shouted to each other?

What direction did they go when they left?

Were there any witnesses who also saw the incident?

This is where the value of foresight can save you future assaults and engagements if the evidence recorded by the “Active Mobile Video” system can be used efficiently by the authorities or Armed Forces to bring those who were responsible to justice, before they have the opportunity to try again.

Civilian Trials For Terrorist

Due to recent administration determination to extend civil rights to those perpetrating terrorist acts against the USA or against US citizens or companies, it is essential that the level of evidence gathered from an incident be sufficient to provide prosecutors with a solid case against the perpetrators, as in a criminal case the requirement for evidence that will lead to a conviction are much more difficult to secure. 

Many of the recently captured terrorists held by US Authorities were released due to the higher requirements for evidence if they are tied in US criminal cases.

Rules of Engagement

While the US Armed Forces and her allies perform their service with exemplary precision, restraint and compassion, they are often not able to take action when they are clearly under threat of hostile fire due to their ROE or Rules of Engagement. In many cases ROE require that they be taking live fire from enemies before they are able to return fire. Those specialty civilian protection services who operate in foreign nations under multi million dollar contracts are also in need of the same documentation.

A few years back, I was contacted by the State Department, who enlisted the services of a private contractor for protection services for their staff in those countries. A private contractor in the Middle East had an armored convoy incident, where their personnel were implicated in a civilian shooting incident.

The US State Department was looking for ways to document what might happen in future incidents so that when contractors or military armed convoys were involved in return fire incidents that they had verifiable proof they were fired upon prior to any return fire.

It is not enough to be surrounded by armed potential threats in some cases, now it must be proven that you were actually fired upon in order to completely justify return fire, which is why in the future I can clearly see the integration of mobile video systems in all military vehicles as well as most civilian armored vehicles and VIP Executive vehicles, not just to protect the lives of those within the vehicle but to insure the establishment of an expert witness for potential court litigation and corporate liability protection.

At the time, about 4 years ago, the system technologies were insufficient to achieve their needs for cellular transmission of all events directly to a central CMS Operator. So while we presented them a solution, it was not sufficient to their operational requirements and the State Department did not require them to implement them into their service vehicles.

We now have the ability to provide an Active Mobile Video system hat they needed years ago, with very flexible software that can integrate with many third

 party or customized software to provide a cellular gateway for their mobile data needs.

“Active Mobile Video” Concept to Reality

Due to the importance of Risk Management and Evidence Documentation for the Armed Vehicle Transport markets, the MVS solution was a new generation of “Active Mobile Video” devices originally developed for the Law Enforcement market, which could offer measurable reductions in risk and enhanced oversight for Armored Vehicle Transportation as both applications had similar needs.

MVS began a process to explore what is currently possible with existing technology, what might be possible if that current technology was applied in different or unusual methods, plus, what those current technologies could offer if integrated properly in a cohesive, and articulate form that takes full advantage of the newest 3G cellular Live View technologies for the Armored Vehicle Transportation community in applications that would benefit from a new generation of  “Active Mobile Video” based systems.

Below are the original goals set by the MVS staff, in their efforts of Risk Management and Evidence Documentation in an  “Active Mobile Video” system.

“Active Mobile Video” Armored Transport  & VIP Project Goals  

• Provide complete oversight of entire transport process to management.
• Provide a wireless “hands off” chain of custody for all video evidence in case of event.
• Provide client ability to login and monitor their VIP or cargo from their own PCs
• Provide an extra level of driver awareness an oversight of accountability.
• Provide GPS live tracking of all vehicles in fleet
• Provide Geo-Fencing with live border violation alerts
• Provide active visual support to driver or crew of Armored Vehicle Transportation (AVT) 
• Provide audible support to driver or crew of Armored Vehicle Transportation (AVT) when needed.
• Provide CMS operator ability to watch the back of Armored Vehicle Transportation (AVT) driver and verify progress
• Provide CMS operator ability to immediate request medical or backup when the situation warrants it w/o Armored Vehicle Transportation (AVT) driver contact.
• To eliminate the possibility that a AVT driver or passenger survives a life threatening encounter, then dies as a result of their injuries, because they cannot call for assistance themselves.
• To provide CMS operator the ability to request medical assistance for passengers of an AVT when they may be incapacitated.
• To enable the vehicle to be immediately rendered non drivable discretely.
• To enable the vehicle F & R doors to be unlocked remotely by CMS operator.
• To enable CMS operator visual verification of vehicle status prior to shutdown of engine 
• To enable CMS operator visual verification of vehicle pulling in behind a stopped AVT so CMS operator can warn driver of possible threat from behind his vehicle.
• To provide immediate supervisor determination of actual visual events at a higher level 
• To provide immediate EMT evaluation from afar to physical and visual issues with VIPs or occupants of the vehicle who may have been exposed to toxic chemicals, debris or airborne substances.
• To provide visual and audible translation from afar for persons speaking unusual languages.

Summary

In Summary, MVS found that though novel applications of existing and new technologies enhanced by articulation back end software that will support those innovative applications, it is now possible to provide an “Active Mobile Video” system to greatly enhanced the level of Armored Vehicle Transportation (AVT) driver & passenger safety, cargo safety, as well as greatly expand the effectiveness of the mobile video system to help make it a more effective evidence gathering tool for the prosecution of perpetrators in an effort to provide a jury with the highest level of evidence to base their verdict.

It is our belief that implementation of the Active Mobile Video on Armored Vehicle Transportation (AVT) could substantially and immediately enhance Driver / Passenger Safety, and lower risk of loss to valuable cargo, by exploring some of the new 3G technology mechanisms now offered by MVS “Active Mobile Video” system known as the MVS-SSD4.

With the cost of Armored Vehicles from $135,000 and up, it would be a wise investment to receive the control, oversight and piece of mind offered by this new technology based system that costs less than the paint job on some vehicles.