What’s new? is a question Professional Security magazine is often asked on the floor of an exhibition. It can be a surprisingly difficult question to answer, given that we are so busy dashing from place to place, meeting people and hearing things, that it’s hard to take the time to gather a view. But a couple of things did arise from the International Security Expo 2019 last week, at London Olympia.
First, as the year before at the Expo, high footfall screening. We featured Stephen Cooper, COO of Apstec Systems, in our February edition. Other companies are in the field such as the British defence company Qinetiq; and Patriot One, featured in our September edition. The reason for the manufacturer interest; the potential market. For what airport or port would not want a product that could deliver security, while allowing a free, or at least a quicker than at present, flow of people from a concourse to airside? Equally, any ‘crowded place’, such as casinos, stadia, concert venues and public buildings such as courts that have airport-style security such as metal arches – including Olympia itself, for the shows – would be glad of a screening product that could bring people into a venue quicker. That would add to visitors’ convenience – for time in a security queue is time not spent consuming and buying – and incidentally do away with any queue outside a venue, waiting to be screened, that can itself create a potential ‘crowded place’ and a security risk from a ‘vehicle as a weapon’.
Hence Stephen Cooper of Apstec spoke at the 2019 Expo; as did Martin Cronin, CEO of Patriot One; and Roger Cumming, director of Fenley Martel, who talked through trials of tech with the necessary security personnel, to draw to one side those people who are flagged up by the tech as possibly carrying a concealed weapon or suspicious item.
There is some evidence of such products in actual use; Apstec recently reported take-up of its HSR product at Brussels Charleroi Airport. Mass take-up, and the considerable shift necessary in securing crowded sites, has yet to come.
The other subject, on both days of the show, was counter-drones. Several commercial companies spoke of their products, including Qinetiq. As some pointed out, drones are not as new a problem as some may think; the Dutch firm Robin Radar Systems has developed products to detect birds for decades. Birds especially in flocks such as starlings pose a risk to aircraft (and wind farms) simply by flying into them; hence the need for an airport to detect birds in good time. Equally, given the man-made threat of a drone to aircraft, whether maliciously or through pilot error, an airport also needs to tell apart a drone from a bird; hence Robin’s Elvira product.
Bill Haraka of Robin, speaking on both days of the show, set out options to counter drones, even including missiles (but why shoot an object costing hundreds of thousands of dollars, to take down an object that costs hundreds?). Haraka spoke in terms of balancing the threat – of a drone hitting aircraft – with collateral damage (of a shot-down drone) within a legal framework. As he described, the applications are far beyond airports; though Robin radar products are in use in case of drones at many airports, such as Heathrow, Schipol and Frankfurt. He gave other examples; of a Nato training exercise in April, that enthusiasts wanted to take photographs of, including with drones. Thanks to official urgings on social media that enthusiasts did not use drones, the appeal worked. Likewise, enthusiasts – or commercial rivals seeking to carry out industrial espionage – may use drones at a test track in Hungary, where car manufacturers drive their new models. The manufacturers of drones may provide an answer to malicious over-flying, or sheer incompetent flying, by drones by placing chips in drones, to enforce no-fly zones: “It’s just a matter of time,” Haraka suggested.
The International Security Expo 2020 runs at the same venue on Wednesday and Thursday, December 2 and 3, alongside a sister show about international disaster recovery. Visit https://www.internationalsecurityexpo.com/.
Note on drones; Westminster Forum Projects are running a morning seminar on ‘Commercial drones in the UK – regulation and airspace management, emerging use cases, and sector development’, including safety and security; in London SW1 on December 13.
