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the
interview
Some 10,000 flights depart from
Schiphol Airport every week and
there are around 3,000 IP cameras
installed at the airport.
Bjorn Gunderson, who has
been in the aviation industry
since 1985, says there are 1015
incidents with left luggage every
day. However, it is not just the
passengers that are being checked.
All the employees at the airport
have something called a Schiphol
pass, which consists of two chips,
one that gives access to restricted
areas, and one containing personal
information. When entering a re-
stricted area, the iris is scanned and
his or her weight is measured in a
lock so that the person cannot ac-
company an unauthorised person
into the restricted area, says Bjorn
Gunderson.
What is the main security con-
cern at airports?
"The main security concern
is terrorist attacks. We have to
prevent that and we use all means
within the legislation to do that".
Which are the most efficient
means?
"We have the camera system,
security checks for the passengers
and their hand carried bags and
an inline security system for the
checked bags which complies to
the latest and highest standards.
We have biometric access control
for the staff because the staff could
be a risk as well."
How do you check them?
"We check them the same way
as we check passengers with their
belongings before they enter the
airport security restricted areas.
Before they start working at the
airport they need to go through a
background screening in order to
get the Schiphol pass, which allows
them in to certain areas. And we
have a very good cooperation with
different entities, like customs and
the military police. The military
police is responsible for the police
tasks, immigration and armed high
risk security at Schiphol airport."
After the attacks in Brussels,
how do you prevent something
like that from happening at
Schiphol?
"The attack in Brussels was very
hard to prevent. If you have no
information and no intelligence
about those guys, it is quite easy
for them to get into a public area.
What we do in the public areas
is profiling suspicious behaviour,
approaching people for assistance
and just showing them that we are
there."
How proactive can you be?
"In security, you try to be ahead
of the terrorists, but you do not
know what they are going to do
or which means they are going to
use. We never expected they were
going to use trucks to crash into
people. Today, security is mostly
reactive, you react to things that
have happened, but you want to be
proactive, and the only thing you
can do in order to be proactive is
to have good intelligence. But it
requires funding, cooperation and
amended legislation."
What is the biggest technical
trend in airport security?
"At the moment it is intelli-
gence and intelligent systems and
sensors. We use an intelligent cam-
era system, but it does not live up
to the standards that we require.
Suppliers and manufacturers claim
to have the solution for us, but it
might work in a conditioned en-
vironment, but not in an airport:
there are too many variables."
Surveillance cameras, thermal
cameras and radars, which are
most common in airports?
"Well, just the normal daylight
cameras. We do have Starlight
cameras from Bosch, which
work in limited light conditions.
They are better and cheaper than
thermal cameras. However, we use
thermal cameras at a few spots,
but that is mainly because we need
a good view during all weather
conditions like snow or fog. Most
cameras are normal cameras."
What about radars?
"We use radars for detect-
ing movement on the airfield in
case of a periphery breach. But if
technicians or airport authorities
have to work in the landing area,
we can also track and trace them
automatically with radar connected
to cameras."
How can you control passenger
flows at an airport?
"We can do that with cameras,
and use intelligence, like heat maps:
if the crowd is getting dense and
there is a (safety) hazard, we can
redirect them. We use both cameras
and staff on the ground in order to
maintain the flow so the passengers
can reach their gates in time."
What will airport security look
like in the future?
"I think there will be a system
where the passenger is not aware
of undergoing a security check as
they are walking through some
kind of security tunnel. If we
detect items they cannot bring,
we just take them out of the flow.
The goal is that the passengers
will not be obstructed by security,
they will just keep on going to
the gate without any hassle."
Are drones a big problem for
airport security?
"There is a risk because they
can bring items into the airport,
but drones are a problem for
more than just security. They are
a safety problem in the USA
there have been quite a lot of in-
cidents at airports and it happens
here in Europe as well. There are
solutions, you can detect drones
but you have to deal with them
as well and that is hard to do.
However, airports can use drones
as well, for example surveillance
and especially in big areas."
"Terrorism is the biggest threat"
Bjorn Gundersen, Schiphol Amsterdam Airport
Airport security has become an increasingly debated
topic after the terrorist attack at Brussels airport last
year. "If you have no information and no intelligence
about those guys, it is quite easy for them to get into
a public area", says Bjorn Gunderson, Security Process
Manager at Schiphol Amsterdam Airport.
"I think there will be a system where the pas-
senger is not aware of undergoing a security
check as they are walking through some kind
of security tunnel. "
Schiphol Amsterdam Airport.
Bjorn Gunderson, Security Process
Manager.
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