Raúl Fernandez
Product Manager
Part 3: coping with increasing security requirements
Technologies such as automated screening lanes (ASLs) and centralised image processing (CIP) are often associated with increased passenger throughput at the checkpoint, but they can also have a positive impact on security.
Let’s focus on the effects of security requirements in the aviation industry, and how automated and centralised operations can make checkpoints more secure.
A core concern
Security has been a major concern for the aviation industry for many years. Airports, transport authorities and airlines continuously work hard to prevent threats against passengers and aircraft.
These threats have resulted in the implementation of higher security requirements, such as the restriction of liquids from bags at the checkpoint. While ensuring better image analysis through traditional X-ray scanners, these requirements also create bottlenecks and slow down the screening process.
From a security point of view, slow screening and long waiting times can create queues at the checkpoint, which could potentially become soft targets. In many cases, existing solutions have led to a decrease in the quality of inspections at the checkpoint in response to long queues.
Preventing collusion
Lawmakers are also turning their attention to airport employees as a potential insider threat, adding to the complexity of security operations. Mandatory employee screenings, background checks and additional random screenings have been considered as potential deterrents. However, none of these measures effectively prevent collusion between employees and crew members.
Another challenge for airport operators lies in the performance of its screening agents. The checkpoint can quickly become a chaotic environment with multiple sources of distractions for agents. Such an atmosphere has a direct impact on the agents’ capacity to focus on image analysis tasks and can lead to poorer results in threat detection.
Optimising resources
Solutions such as Vanderlande’s ASL and CIP software address these challenges directly and can help airports maintain or enhance security at the checkpoint in many ways. An increase in throughput will result in a decrease in waiting times and in smaller queues at the checkpoint, therefore reducing the creation of soft targets.
Remote screening also allows agents to analyse images at another location, far from the distractions of the checkpoint. This enhanced working environment results in an improved performance in threat detection and resolution.
Based on a real case where our Multiplex screening software was used, the following table highlights how agents were able to improve their threat detection capabilities while increasing the speed at which they could do so.
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Read the next article of our series to see how airports can seamlessly transition to the checkpoint of tomorrow while keeping up with new trends and regulations. Alternatively, you can further explore the world of checkpoint security in our previous blogs (part 1 and part 2).