6
In the terminal's baggage-claim area, there's an
emergency exit alarm that regularly gets triggered.
It's gone off over 150 times during the course of just
a week. Each time it happens, one of the security
team members is sent to investigate. Each time, they
find the alarm has been triggered by a person leaning
against the door as they wait for their suitcase to
appear on the baggage carousel. The team knows
these are almost certainly false alarms, but they're
obliged to investigate regardless. Even though they've
become desensitized to the alarm, they have no way
of telling for sure whether it's a false positive. There's
an element of doubt and it's a drain on resources.
Removing the alarm isn't an option because the door
leads to a restricted emergency area. If someone
were to pass through undetected, it could become
a major security breach.
With the help of Mission Control, the team identified
the danger. Existing cameras, motion sensors and
door sensors were optimized to detect actual
breaches only – with the extra information helping
determine exactly when a response was required.
False alarms continued to be logged, but security
personnel were now dispatched only when the door
'A single trigger doesn't always
mean a genuine threat.'
Global airport
industry revenue
ACI Airport Statistics, 2015
Security breaches
every year
TSA data from 2009-2015
$142.5b
2,500
