Coors Field

Coors Field
  Teams
With Auto ID

Ball park security guards
touch base with automated
data collection.

                                                        Paul Quinn, Senior Writer
                                                        IDSystems October 1995

Citizens of Denver are nearly reverent about their hometown's nickname, "The Mile High City." Which perhaps explains why at Coors Field, in the 21st row of the upper deck, the seats are purple (all other seats are green). Fans seated in the 21st row are precisely 5280 feet above sea level. They are also sitting in the National League's first baseball-only stadium to be built in 33 years Officially open this spring, Coors Field is the new home of the Colorado Rockies.

The architecture of the new stadium is reminiscent of the early 1900's, especially so in the brick and sandstone facade that wraps around the corner of Blake and 20th Streets. Built into the apex of the facade's corner is a brick clock tower, based on a similar structure back east, in Pittsburgh. By contrast the view of the Rocky Mountains from right field reminds you that you're in Colorado. From the inside, Coors Field presents a fine example of world-class design and engineering. After all, what other baseball diamond has a home plate sited by a global-positioning satellite?

As one of the world's newest sporting facilities, Coors Field boasts plenty of state-of-the-art technology. Interestingly enough, some of this equipment is used after-hours, when the fans have gone home and the locker rooms are empty. It is then that high technology helps maintain security within the park, ensuring that unauthorized personnel are kept out. Complementing the closed-circuit television monitors (35 of them), motion detectors and other modern security devices, stadium management also uses traditional foot patrol guards who walk assigned regular rounds ^__even here, new technology is helping out.

Technology Makes the Rounds
Among the main duties of the security guards is the checking of doors and gates to verify that these access points are secured. Traditionally, guards have kept manual records of their rounds, submitting handwritten reports at the end of each shift. However, this technique leaves a lot to be desired, and up until recently there was no reliable, practical way to verify that a guard had in fact stopped at all required checkpoints. Now, automated data collection has provided new ways to track security activity.

ButtonMemory, manufactured by MacSema, Inc. is a small device resembling a camera battery that is essentially a computer chip in a can. Preprogrammed with a unique serial ID number, the button is permanently mounted on a door or gate and acts as an electronic ID tag.

Coors Field, bounded by public sidewalk for a good deal of its perimeter and situated in a downtown section, has an unusually high number of exterior access points. Altogether, there are approximately 100 ButtonMemories installed on key gates and doors; most of these are mounted on exterior entrances and exits, but a fair number of buttons are in use deeper inside the stadium on doors leading to sensitive areas such as ticket offices and concession facilities.

During his or her patrol, a guard reads the button by touching it with a ButtonWand, a small handheld instrument about the size of a deck of cards. The unit is fitted with a special tip that fits neatly over the button. At contact, the wand reads the button's electronic ID, storing it in memory along with the exact time and date that the button is read. During each guard's shift, all the ButtonMemories in the sector are read and recorded.

Occasionally, guards will find doors or gates that have something amiss. For instance, a door might be lacking a piece of hardware, or it's button may have been knocked off. Such a deficiency is noted electronically with the ButtonWand from a special menu, which is a laminated card with three buttons affixed to it, each button representing an irregularity such as "Maintenance Required." To record a deficiency, the guard selects the appropriate option and zaps the button next to it. Later, when the report of the tour's activities is printed out, the deficiency will be noted by the shift supervisor and follow-up action initiated.

At the conclusion of the shift, the guard brings the ButtonWand to the stadium's command center where it is placed in the downloader , a device that reads the accumulated data and feeds it into the host computer, a 486 IBM compatible. The downloader also recharges the wand so that it will be "topped off" when it is next needed.

After being loaded into the PC, data from the patrol is printed out in a specially formatted report and reviewed by the shift supervisor, who verifies that each door was checked. Should the supervisor note that a door was not inspected, the guard is sent back to check that door before finishing the shift. Data from the tour is kept on file so that if guard activities need to be verified later, the information is accessible.

Application software is a standard package, also manufactured by MacSema, called the Security Plus System. The program enables the PC to store and manage the data collected from the buttons and generates reports, both standardized and customized.

ButtonMemories are serviceable even in temperatures down to -40°F and in inclement weather such as rain and ice. Due to the proprietary nature of the buttons, they are tamper proof, says MacSema, adding that unlike bar codes, the buttons can't be duplicated. The Coors Field installation, completed by ALP Enhanced Systems, a Var and systems integrator based in Denver, uses read-only ButtonMemories. (MacSema also produces read/write buttons that can be reprogrammed as needed with new data.)

According to Coors Field management, the button system works well, and has provided a level of control and accountability not possible with older, manual methods of patrol reporting.

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