When it comes to airport security, the gold standard is not the United States, it’s Israel, a nation in a constant state of alert since its modern birth over 60 years ago. No country is so focused on protecting its citizens, its infrastructure, and its very existence. With Israel, it’s not a matter of convenience or political posturing, it’s a matter of raw, every day survival.
As a result, Israel has been forced to innovate, developing and implementing the strictest and most creative approaches to air security in the world. The challenges faced by Israel are, in many ways, the same as those faced by security designers in the U.S. Although it could be argued that Israeli citizens are more keenly aware of potential threats, and are willing to accept restrictive and invasive procedures that would make Americans balk, there is always a pressure to minimize inconvenience. To this end, Israel has tapped cutting-edge technologies, generating solutions that increase security while decreasing user complaints.
Trace-Safe from Israel and Raptor from the U.S. have co-developed a chemical process called TraceGuard, which can free particles from fabric and luggage for speedy detection and analysis. Suspect Detection System (SDS) has an automated interrogation and background check technology for spotting people with possible criminal intent. Explosive sniffers, biometrics, advanced surveillance, every technical tool that can advance security capabilities and their smooth implementation is being explored in Israel. The idea in Israel is to concentrate on people, not just their luggage, and to consider the entire airport area, not just planes.
A prime example, already being bought up by airports around the world, is a device called MagShoe by IDO Security. Traditional scanners do a poor job of evaluating the area around the feet, resulting in one of the most hated air passenger rituals, having to remove shoes. MagShoe does away with that, detecting concealed weapons in seconds by simply having the individual step on the ankle high device. It’s easy, accurate, and safe. With increasing traveler grumblings about security procedures, interest and sales of MagShoe are taking off.
For more information, visit the company website at www.IDOSecurityInc.com
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