Will the Brussels airport attack herald a new era of aviation security? Like the bombing of Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport in 2011, the Brussels attack took place “landside”, meaning that security precautions would have been low-key and limited to spot checks and the general watchfulness of police officers for unusual behavior.
Combination Of Security Techniques
Even the tabloid press has had the sense not to second-guess Belgian authorities and ask why there were no metal detectors and body scanners at the departure hall. Only airports with particularly chequered pasts in terms of terrorism and sectarian violence (Istanbul, Nairobi and Mumbai) have screening operations at pre-security areas. However, unless their aim is to undermine public confidence by evading security measures or taking control of a plane, it makes little difference to terrorists exactly where they kill aviation passengers.
CCTV still images from Brussels, which flashed around the world shortly after the attacks, showed Najim Laachraoui, who blew himself up at the airport. We now know that Laachraoui not only made the Brussels bombs but probably also made the suicide vests used in Paris back in November – fragments recovered there contained his DNA.
A mug shot identifying Laachraoui as a significant terrorist suspect had been distributed by Belgium Federal Police only days before the attack in their capital. Consider the imaginary scenario of a comprehensive database of possible jihadists shared by transport hubs all around Europe. Combine that with perfect facial recognition CCTV (from all angles), not just airside but in the departure hall. And assume the resulting information is actionable quickly enough to intercept attackers. Then and only then would the Belgian airport trio have been halted.
Video Analytics For Airport Security
Clearly this is the stuff of fantasy, though I’m aware of current progress and invite facial recognition vendors to weigh in. But there’s a sobering statistic from London: the Metropolitan Police’s forensic imaging team has admitted that, of the 4,000 images entered onto their database after the 2011 riots in the UK, only one person has been recognized solely by facial geometry.
More generalised video analytics have a definite role to play in protecting airports; there are algorithms that will alarm on unusual direction of movement and loitering when other passengers are flowing through the site. Yes, there were peculiar aspects to the bombers. Two of them were wearing a glove on one hand only (concealing links to detonation devices), and they had large suitcases but no carry-on luggage. But this is the kind of a typical behavior that is likely to register with human rather than artificial intelligence. I concede that analytics can do much to reveal an abnormal gait that might indicate the weight of a bomb vest but would challenge any movement algorithm developer to report much about a passenger when they are pushing a trolley.
