Variety’s Publisher and Co-President Dea Lawrence and SimpliSafe’s Chief Product Officer Hooman Shahidi took to the stage to talk about proactive protection at Variety’s inaugural True Crime Summit presented by Investigation Discovery at the SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, on Friday.
During the panel, aptly titled “Stopping the Story Before It Starts,” Lawrence and Shahidi dove deep into how proper prevention methods can make all the difference in an emergency — and even change a potentially horrible outcome into a positive one. “It’s all about being proactive, rather than reactive,” said Shahidi.
Using both AI and real humans for verification, SimpliSafe’s security technology is designed to protect homes before a crime occurs, something that is made possible through the extended perimeter of protection that is provided, explained Shahidi. This allows SimpliSafe to intervene ahead of the crime actually being committed, and to dispatch police at the first sign of concern. It also decreases the response time for a potential threat — and the time that a criminal has to do harm.
“What we are finding is that if we can get a human involved earlier, we can actually stop things much more quickly,” said Shahidi.
Above all, being aware and cautious is the key to protection.
“Talking about true crime is so important, not because of fear mongering, but really just making people aware that they need to protect themselves,” said Shahidi to close out the session. “It’s so important to be aware and protect yourself.”
Variety’s True Crime Summit spotlighted the phenomenon that is the crime genre in media, exploring the cultural obsession with stories of mystery, justice and deception. Other speakers included Patricia E. Gillespie, the director of “#Skyking,” Nancy Grace, a legal commentator and the host of “Crime Stories with Nancy Grace” and Jonathan Hirsch, vice president of Sony Music Entertainment’s global podcasts.
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