As summer concert season ramps up, UF researchers work to help make public spaces, mass events safer

In 2017, a gunman opened fire on a packed music festival in Las Vegas, killing 60 people and injuring hundreds more — one of the deadliest mass shootings in U.S. history. As summer concert and festival season ramps up across the country, University of Florida researchers are working to prevent similar tragedies from ever happening again.

At UF’s SaferPlaces Laboratory, researchers are partnering with law enforcement agencies and private companies to test emerging technologies that help prevent violence at large public gatherings. The lab, led by criminologist Read Hayes, Ph.D., works closely with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, local police departments and security technology companies like Axon and Motorola Solutions.

“We’re looking for ways to detect and deter threats earlier, ideally before anyone ever gets hurt,” said Hayes, who runs the lab in the UF Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering. “That means gathering intelligence before the event, monitoring crowd behavior during it, and making sure law enforcement can respond in real time.”

The SaferPlaces Lab specializes in evaluating technologies that monitor public spaces for early warning signs of criminal behavior. This includes using open-source intelligence, or OSINT, to identify online threats ahead of events, deploying gunshot detection systems and behavioral sensors, and optimizing real-time crime centers that coordinate across agencies.

This year, the lab is heavily focused on drone and counter-drone security. The UF team is testing aerial surveillance tools and systems that detect unauthorized drones in restricted airspace. With support from tech companies like Skydio and Flock Safety, the team is developing tactics to identify potential threats — including drones carrying hazardous payloads — and respond quickly on the ground.

“We’re learning from these incidents so we can better understand what works,” Hayes said. “If we can use audio, video, even behavioral data to detect a fight or identify a weapon in time, that can save lives.”

The lab’s “Bowtie Model” is central to this approach. It maps how a violent incident develops over time — from intent to harm to the act itself — and helps identify opportunities for early intervention. Researchers are currently working with police departments in New York City and Detroit to apply this framework to real-time monitoring of public events.

With the number of large-scale events rising, Hayes said the stakes are high.

“There are more people, more crowded spaces, and more ways that something can go wrong,” he said. “Our job is to help prevent the worst-case scenario — and give communities the tools to respond faster and smarter when seconds matter.”