Precautions
Security devices include metal detectors, watch dogs, and guards that do random checks. Many airports now use advanced forms of identification such as a security identification display area. Identification cards that identify a person as an airline or airport employee, or authorized personnel are the most common measures (For example, the ASIC in Australia).
Another critical security measure utilised by several regional and international airports is the use of fiber optic perimeter intrusion detection systems. A perimeter intrusion detection security systems allow airport security to locate and detect any intrusion on the airport perimeter, ensuring real-time, immediate intrusion notification that allows security personnel to assess the threat and track movement and engage necessary security procedures.
Sensitive areas in airports, including airport ramps and operational spaces, are restricted from the general public. Called a SIDA (Security Identification Display Area) in the US, these spaces require special authority to enter.
The issue of security aboard aircraft assumed prominence after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. A controversial decision in the United States has been to allow pilots to carry handguns for personal safety. As well as proposals to strengthen airport security, United States Congress spent $250 million to reinforce the cockpit doors on commercial aircraft. However, in some aircraft, these cockpit doors remain open due to restricted ventilation in the cockpit.
Read more about this topic: Airline Security
Famous quotes containing the word precautions:
“It is so manifestly incompatible with those precautions for our peace and safety, which all the great powers habitually observe and enforce in matters affecting them, that a shorter water way between our eastern and western seaboards should be dominated by any European government, that we may confidently expect that such a purpose will not be entertained by any friendly power.”
—Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
“A multitude of little superfluous precautions engender here a population of deputies and sub-officials, each of whom acquits himself with an air of importance and a rigorous precision, which seemed to say, though everything is done with much silence, “Make way, I am one of the members of the grand machine of state.””
—Marquis De Custine (1790–1857)
“The aim of every political constitution is, or ought to be, first to obtain for rulers men who possess most wisdom to discern, and most virtue to pursue, the common good of the society; and in the next place, to take the most effectual precautions for keeping them virtuous whilst they continue to hold their public trust.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)