Axis scores big with stadium security.

American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas is one of only a handful of dual-sports arenas in the country. Home to the Dallas Mavericks National Basketball Association team and the Dallas Stars National Hockey League team, the venue also hosts 40 to 50 major concerts annually. Much like a small city, the stadium also sports dozens of retail stores, concession stands, restaurants and customizable meeting rooms. Public safety and loss prevention are just some of the daily challenges facing the security team in this bustling, high-traffic building.

With the assistance of a leading surveillance systems integrator and Axis partner, the American Airlines Center deployed a mixed array of 228 Axis network cameras throughout the building – from the seating bowl, multiple concourses and lobby areas to the retail space and rooftop.

When compared to their old analog system, the clarity of the HD-quality Axis cameras enables the building security officers to quickly spot incidents they would have never caught before and intervene before situations escalate. The broad coverage also helps the team expedite investigations and speedily resolve issues like stolen property and customer service disputes.

With technical support from the local Axis office, Boyer walked every square inch of the building multiple times deciding where to place cameras and which camera models would best suit the lighting challenges of the location and provide the best fields of view.

The breadth of strategically placed cameras has been instrumental in curtailing losses in the complex. When an employee’s smartphone went missing from a charging station at the front of one of the club restaurants, security was able to review video from the vicinity and trace the movements of a suspect.

In another instance, there was an altercation in the seats during a game. One of the parties insisted that another guest be ejected from the premises. This patron also complained that guest services failed to handle the situation correctly and demanded that the American Airlines Center employee be fired. When security reviewed the video of the incident, it told an entirely different story. When the patron was confronted with the evidence, the complaint was rescinded and no one’s job was lost.

According to Boyer, the new system has been well worth the investment. “We went into this project thinking we would do a pretty good job covering what we wanted to cover,” said Boyer. “But with the help of the integration partner and Axis, we’ve knocked it out of the park. The system is really comprehensive. It does exactly what we want it to do. And we plan for it to serve us for many years to come.”