THREATS
A parking facility is unpopulated by nature, and the safety of lone patrons should be taken into consideration. “Kidnappings or physical attacks against key facility personnel continue to be a concern with corporate entities,” said Orlando Carrasco, President of Perceptics. “A company has a responsibility to protect its employees against attacks rendered by disgruntled groups or former employees, and prescreening tools such as ALPR and driver cameras serve to qualify the vehicles and drivers coming into a facility.”
Since 9/11, there has been an ever-growing concern over the threat from terrorists. There have been many cases in which vehicles are used as weapons of destruction, said Dave Bartlett, VP of Smarter Buildings, IBM. “Deploying solutions by tagging authorized vehicles with smarter sensors such as RFID with video surveillance systems, as well as integrating smarter parking software with tenant identity management, helps maintain security and order for tenant-reserved spots. Smarter parking solutions assist in sending alarms when abnormal parking violations arise.”
More and more parking facilities at mission critical infrastructures are deemed as potential targets of terrorism and are placing a greater emphasis on security and data capture at the point where a vehicle and driver enter, Carrasco said.
“ALPR coupled with an under vehicle inspection system (UVIS) will provide necessary data that allows a gate guard to determine if that vehicle is a threat. UVIS provides a color, line screen image of the vehicle's undercarriage, so security personnel are able to identify foreign objects or alterations made that could indicate a concealed threat.”
The rationales behind using video surveillance, ALPR and UVIS are different. “Video surveillance serves to monitor the movement of vehicles and occupants as they arrive and move about the premises. However, they aid more in documenting a threat in progress, so security personnel can react,” Carrasco said.
“ALPR coupled with UVIS are preventative measures that allow security personnel to assess the potential threat and create a more proactive response strategy.”
“ALPR and UVIS systems can be integrated with bollards and gate arms once the data and the security personnel have cleared the car and its driver as a potential threat. These systems can also integrate with RFID, vehicle/occupant or scene cameras, which serve to aid security profes-sionals with their security assessments,” Carrasco said.