Page 118 - Security Today, April 2018

CAMPUS PROTECTION
VEHICLE ALERT
TO
injuries. Approximately a year later, on Oct. 31, 2017, a terrorist drove a Home Depot rental pickup truck at least 10 blocks down the popular Hudson River Greenway bike path from West Houston to Chambers streets, hitting nearly a dozen pedestrians and bicy- clists before crashing into a school bus near Stuyvesant High School and elementary school P.S. 89, just a few blocks north of the World Trade Center.
It’s no secret that terrorist groups have called on followers to use trucks, in particu- lar, to attack crowds. Campuses across the nation are responding.
VEHICLES ATTACKS OCCUR
AT TWO ACCESS POINTS
Temporary access points are especially prone to attack. On a college campus, traffic may need rerouting for football game weekends and commencement ceremonies or a hospi- tal might be having an open house. In either case, sections normally open to traffic will be closed to create pedestrian paths and gathering points. However, these areas still have a need for delivery trucks and certain other authorized vehicles to enter. These locations are best protected with crash-rated portable barriers that erect in 15 minutes and are then removed once the event is over.
The other is in locations where the primary use is pedestrian but, frequently, vehicles need to pass through. An example could be a square in which the maintenance truck comes through to clean the square periodically. Other areas could be those locations with restricted parking. At a hospital, it may the entrance to the emergency unit.
TEMPORARY BARRIERS ARE POPULAR ON CAMPUSES
By their very nature, terrorist attacks are unpredictable and predicated on surprise. Staying one step ahead by identifying vulner- able areas, and securing them, is critical to staving off vehicular attacks. That means being able to deploy security equipment in tough conditions, at a moment’s notice. Such equipment has existed for several years in the
oday, the most dangerous weapons on campuses just might be vehicles By Greg Hamm
n Nov. 28, 2016, a terrorist vehicle ramming and stab- bing attack occurred at Ohio State University and resulted in 13 people hospitalized for
CS34 WWW.CAMPUSLIFESECURITY.COM | APRIL 2018
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forms of portable temporary barriers. During the 2017 football season, six of the Associated Press (AP) top-10 rated pre-sea- son football schools, stayed one step ahead of terrorists and errant drivers on their cam- puses by identifying vulnerable areas and securing them within minutes with tempo-
rary, portable barriers.
Terrorists typically don’t go where they see
barricades, so placing them wherever possible attacks can happen reduces security risks dra- matically. Temporary barriers are often used to protect facilities while permanent ones are being built. Plus, they’ve even been effective for the long-term where physical conditions pre- clude permanent solutions.
Their most common use, though, is for when vehicle access is required temporarily. Parking for the football game, a grand open- ing for the new wing, freshman matriculation day and open houses are events needing only a temporary solution. These barriers can be deployed quickly and effectively, even in plac- es where it’s impossible to excavate for a per- manent foundation.
Moveable self-contained barricades can be towed into position to control vehicle access within 15 minutes to answer the need of orga- nizations that quickly require a temporary barricade system to address a specific threat or secure a facility during special events. They were created for military checkpoints in
Afghanistan and Iraq to provide another level of force protection.
These mobile deployable vehicle crash bar- riers carry a M40 rating, stopping seven and a half ton vehicles traveling 40 miles per hour. No excavation or sub-surface preparation is required. Once towed into position, the por- table barricade uses DC-powered hydraulic pumps to unpack and raise and lower itself off its wheels. There is no hand cranking. Wheels are stored along the sides and the vehicle ramps fold out, completing the implementa- tion. To move the barrier from that spot to another, the procedures are just reversed.
Differing from the “hard stop,” wanted with anti-terrorist barricades, the Soft Stop tech- nology of the portable barrier decelerates and stops the vehicle over a short distance. This is important because, in many cases, the trage- dies that the portables negate are accidents. Authorities want the vehicle stopped but they also want to minimize injury to the driver.
Penn State University uses seven of these barriers for home football games and special events. Like similar applications at the Uni- versity of Michigan, Ohio State, Rutgers and others, PSU is able to quickly deploy these barriers at strategic sites around the facili- ty. After the event, they are quickly knocked down and towed to another location.
Just recently, portable, temporary bollards have been added as a tool to stopping attacks.
CAMPUS SECURITY & LIFE SAFETY