Some experts say that Smart Cities do not necessarily be safe cities. They say that it really depends on how those connected cities use their brand new smarts to make their people safer.

Just because municipalities have the broadband links and technical ability to adjust traffic signals based on the data they have collected on resident driving patterns, it doesn’t mean that they will make the right call on signal changes, Alan Breznick says.

Similarly, just because cities have the video surveillance cameras and IT know-how to track potential wrongdoers, it doesn’t mean that they will be able to reduce crime.

In a survey of Asian municipal leaders at the Safe Cities Asia conference in Singapore, Hitachi Data Solutions found a number of major obstacles getting in the way of public safety projects.

These obstacles included a lack of alignment between government agencies, a lack of government focus on public safety, and a failure to adopt an integrated approach to safety initiatives, among other factors.

In other words, all the fancy new technological tools in the world won’t make a difference if cities don’t know how to take advantage of them, or end up focusing on the wrong things.

Yet, in the right hands, “the ability to integrate multiple information and communication technology (ICT) solutions in a secure fashion to manage a city’s assets” can make all the difference.

It’s all about knowing how to use all the new data collected in a constructive, coordinated way.