Page 16 - Security Today, April 2020

Enhancing the Perimeter Mineta San Jose International Airport takes off with multiple layers of protection
Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (SJC) is the gateway to Silicon Valley, providing transportation to 15 million passengers annually. SJC is recog- nized within the industry as one of Ameri- ca’s fastest?growing major airports over the last four-year period, based on percentage increase in passenger seat capacity.
Located in San Jose, Calif., SJC is a ro- bust engine of economic stimulus, trans- portation and international commerce. The airport is within an 18-mile radius of 6,600 technology companies in Silicon Valley and serves travelers employed by many of the world’s leading Fortune 500 enterprises, in- cluding Apple, Google, Facebook and Intel.
Ensuring secure operations is critical to
the success and customer experience of SJC users. The airport occupies 1,050 acres of land and its perimeter spans six miles. With such a vast property and a high throughput of traffic, protecting the perimeter from ex- ternal threats is essential.
Perimeter Security Upgrade
Driven by high-profile intrusion incidents, perimeter security has become a top prior- ity for airports in recent years. From 2004 to 2016, there were 345 perimeter breaches at 31 major U.S. airports, according to an Associated Press report. Like many airports around the country, SJC also faced chal- lenges and crises of illegal trespassing of unauthorized individuals, despite the air- port meeting all federal security regulations.
This raised concerns about passenger safety. With a heightened need for better perim- eter protection, SJC launched a multi-mil- lion dollar, three-phase initiative to upgrade its entire outdoor perimeter security system. The first two phases focused on physical up- grades to the fence line, raising 10,000 linear feet of fence from seven feet to 11 feet in
critical areas of the airport.
Phase three was designated for fence tech-
nology enhancements through state-of-the- art video surveillance and detection systems. “In response to the cluster of perimeter breaches within a relatively short time peri- od, our evaluation showed that the airport perimeter, with its seven-foot-tall fence, was indeed technically in compliance with current federal security requirements,” said
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