Amid increasing violence in U.S. healthcare environments, many hospitals still rely on outdated manual systems for identifying potentially dangerous individuals, leading to significant security and reporting gaps.
Athena Security, Inc. has unveiled an automated BOLO (Be On the Lookout) and Person of Interest system designed to instantly recognize high-risk persons and provide real-time alerts to security teams within hospitals.
Innovation in Hospital Security
“This is exactly the kind of innovation hospitals need in an era where threats can escalate in seconds,” states Lisa Falzone, Co-Founder and President of Athena Security.
The new BOLO and POI technology addresses vulnerabilities found in traditional methods, offering security teams a real-time advantage that can save lives and lessen administrative duties.
Challenges Faced by Hospital Security
Hospitals often utilize documentation-heavy procedures that can delay response times and add to the workload of security personnel. According to a 2025 overview of hospital security tasks, officers must complete detailed reports on incidents and log daily activities such as patrols and visitor entries. A 2022 peer-reviewed study highlights that many violent occurrences in hospitals go unreported due to the cumbersome manual process that staff must follow.
This is concerning as threats in healthcare settings are on the rise. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that healthcare workers face workplace violence at rates five times higher than employees in other fields, adding pressure on hospital security to quickly identify high-risk individuals as they enter the facilities.
The Technological Solution
Athena Security replaces manual logs with real-time ID scanningAthena Security's new system tackles these challenges by replacing manual logs and identification methods with real-time driver's license scanning. Integrated with Athena's Visitor Management System, the innovation allows hospitals to flag dangerous or restricted individuals immediately and automatically notify security and clinical leadership.
This automated system checks against internal lists and relevant external databases in real-time, ensuring proactive visibility without interrupting visitor access.
Ensuring Accurate Records
The BOLO and POI technology aligns with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Best Practice 15.4.5 for credentialing programs, aiding in accurate record maintenance. By utilizing driver’s license scanning, the system reduces human error and ensures digitized, precise visitor records.
The capabilities of Athena's technology include:
- Instant identification of dangerous or banned individuals
- Automatic creation and distribution of BOLO alerts across all hospital branches
- Real-time alerts integrated within the hospital's security operations
- Consistent documentation of POI events without manual input
- Contextual alerts with officer-entered notes for informed response decisions
- Accelerated response times during escalating threats
- Enhanced visitor management in critical hospital areas
- Offline functionality for BOLO searches during network disruptions
Real-time automation
“Paper lists and manual reporting cannot keep up with modern threats,” explains Chris Ciabarra, Co-Founder and CTO of Athena Security. The predominance of under-reported violent incidents in hospitals is primarily due to overwhelmed teams dealing with documentation demands.
Real-time automation of identification, alerting, and documentation allows hospitals to react in accordance with the sudden nature of threats.
Despite rising violence in U.S. healthcare settings, many hospitals still rely on manual, paper-based systems to identify potentially dangerous individuals, creating serious gaps in both physical security and reporting data.
To close this gap, Athena Security, Inc., has launched an automated BOLO (Be On the Lookout) / Person of Interest system engineered to instantly recognize high-risk individuals and deliver real-time alerts to hospital security teams.
Much needed innovation
“This is exactly the kind of innovation hospitals need in an era where threats can escalate in seconds,” says Lisa Falzone, Co-Founder and President of Athena Security.
“Our BOLO / POI technology eliminates the vulnerabilities of outdated methods and gives security teams a real-time advantage that saves lives and reduces administrative burden.”
Challenges
Hospitals depend heavily on documentation-heavy processes that slow response times and overwhelm security personnel. According to a 2025 overview of hospital security guard duties, officers are responsible for detailed incident reports and daily activity logs documenting patrols, visitor access, suspicious behavior, and unusual events—making documentation a routine and time-intensive part of every shift.
A 2022 peer-reviewed study on hospital workplace-violence reporting further found that many violent incidents go unreported or only partially reported because the process requires busy staff—including security and managers—to manually complete incident reports, resulting in inconsistent or incomplete safety data.
These gaps are especially concerning as threats continue to escalate. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that healthcare workers experience workplace violence at five times the rate of workers in all other industries, placing immense pressure on hospital security teams who must accurately identify high-risk individuals the moment they enter the facility.
Solution
Athena Security’s automated BOLO / Person of Interest technology directly addresses this challenge by replacing outdated paper logs, binders, and memory-based identification with real-time driver’s license scanning. Integrated seamlessly with Athena’s Visitor Management System (VMS), the solution enables hospitals to automatically flag dangerous or restricted individuals upon entry and immediately notify security teams, access control staff, and clinical leadership.
The system performs real-time checks against both internal BOLO lists and relevant external databases, providing proactive visibility without disrupting normal visitor flow.
Accurate record keeping
Athena’s BOLO / Person of Interest technology is consistent with U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Best Practice 15.4.5, which calls for implementing credentialing programs to manage building access and maintain accurate records of authorized individuals.
By replacing manual data entry with driver’s license scanning, the system eliminates common human errors and creates accurate, digitised visitor records.
Key capabilities of Athena’s BOLO / POI system
- Instant identification of dangerous, banned, or restricted individuals
- Immediate creation and deployment of new BOLO alerts that are automatically pushed across all hospital locations
- Real-time alerts across the hospital’s security and operations ecosystem
- Automated, consistent documentation of POI events without manual reporting
- Contextual alerts that include officer-entered notes such as prior behavior or safety concerns, enabling more informed response decisions
- Faster response times during escalating threats
- Enhanced visitor management and access control across ED, maternity, behavioral health, and restricted clinical areas
- Offline functionality that allows BOLO searches and alerts to continue even if network connectivity is temporarily lost
Automation
“Paper lists and manual reporting simply cannot keep pace with modern threats,” states Chris Ciabarra, Co-Founder and CTO of Athena Security.
“Violent incidents in hospitals are under-reported largely because teams are overwhelmed by documentation requirements. Automating identification, alerting, and documentation in real time gives hospitals a chance to respond in the way threats actually occur—suddenly and without warning.”
