Just want to illustrate couple of incidents on physical security that we commonly observe.

Once while driving through a technology park, I was stopped by a couple of security personnel and they requested me to open the boot of my car and there was the second one running a mirror underneath my car and looking at something. Since the amount of different car models that I has come out in market, I assumed that the bottom  of every car must be different and out of curiosity, I just enquired with the security personnel, as to what is he looking for and you will be amazed with the answer. “I am not sure sir, they have asked me to check and I am checking”.

In the meantime, the one who was checking the boot of the car just opened up the spare wheel compartment and looked around and closed the boot. Assuming they might be checking for placement of some car bombs, are those the only areas where you can place a bomb..? If not, what is the purpose of this check..? Are we not just wasting time and resources..?

In a similar incident, I was attending a training which was held in one of the hotels. I have attended many training here and have never seen any security checks happening. This time as I drove through, similar to the above scenario one was checking something underneath and the other checking the boot. I had four day training and they did this to me for all the three days and on the fourth day when one of the security personnel was beginning to check, the other shouts at him, “it is fine, please let Sir pass by”. That ended the effectiveness of a security control. Since I did not question him for the three days of checking, he might have sort of built a trust in me and by-passed the control.

So if one passes through a security channel couple of times and obeys the security personnel, he/she has a high chance of been let in without passing through a security channel. This could be one reason for some of the breaches that are happening across the globe.

In a recent visit using the air transport, I was really bugged with a series of security check which made me remove my waist belt all the time and nothing else. Now I think back and try to understand, why security is so annoying to the non-security professionals.

During the trip at one of the airport during departure, I had to pass through a four metal detector at different locations and all the four times the detector would beep at my waist belt. I had to remove the same and place it on the luggage scanner and then pass through the metal detector again. I could see this happening with 90% of the passengers passing through that metal detector and every lounge you go, I could find passengers busy putting back their waist belts, including myself.

What is more annoying is that the same does not happen while I visit a shopping mall equipped with metal detectors. In fact at shopping malls, I have never heard the metal detectors beep even once, for any reason. Anything passing by the detectors, allows it to go through. So what are we trying to implement is a deterrent control using a tool that can help in preventive control.

In looking at both the scenarios of over or under implementation of controls, it is necessary that the authorized personnel take adequate steps to calibrate the equipments on a timely basis and cause minimum impact on the public. It should not reach a situation where human beings are sent through the luggage scanner just because the metal detectors beeps even after complete striping.