Two new devices are about to debut at Logan International Airport to screen passengers as possible terrorists.
Aether Systems, Inc. of Owings Mills, MD, boats its wireless device, the Blackberry, is a “solution that communicates, organizes, and more,” as declared on the company’s website. Massachusetts Port Authority is testing the “more” by arming State Police troopers with hand-held Blackberry computers. Logan is the first airport in the nation to experiment with such a device.
Until now, the Blackberry was most frequently used by business people to check email away from the office. The devices will now allow law enforcement officers to run electronic checks on passengers, airport employees and vehicles.
Phil Orandella, director of media relations at Logan Airport, called the Blackberry “a viable tool for instant access to the information in the speedy nature the officers need.”
Aether’s PocketBlueJ software permits officers to run checks through the National Crime Information Center to access information on outstanding warrants, previous felonies or stolen vehicles.
Right now, troopers randomly select individuals and cars to check through the database as they make their daily patrol. The 10 troopers at Logan Airport who have been trained in counter-terrorism and how to use the Blackberry concentrate their patrols in airport terminals, parking facilities and the taxi pool.
“Two stolen vehicles have already been found,” Orandella added.
The Blackberry is more efficient than telephone or radio queries because it eliminates the role of a dispatcher. Troopers can run hundreds of checks and consistently achieve the same quality and accuracy of information.
If this plan proves successful, Blackberry devices may become a permanent security measure, and the system may expand to include state records and federal watch lists.
For now, however, the Blackberry is “just another tool necessary in enhancing security,” Orandella said.
Along with hand-held computers, facial recognition programs are being tested during the next 60-90 days in hopes of furthering security. Orandella, however, stressed these programs are only being tested.
“Anything that enhances security will enhance whether or not passengers feel safe,” he said. “If we didn’t have hopes for the program, we wouldn’t be trying it.”
The facial recognition programs would trace images of individuals to a database, from which 10-25 images resembling the suspect are printed. After this is done, an employee looks at the pictures and picks a match.
The American Civil Liberties Union said it feels this labor-intensive program creates more problems than it solves.
John Roberts, executive director of the ACLU’s Boston chapter, offered numerous criticisms of the program.
“The pictures have to be of high quality or identical to those found in the database,” he said. “And the question remains, what database? A program that uses a database from America’s Most Wanted does not deal with the issue of terrorism.”
Establishing a database of suspected terrorists creates a vast amount of privacy implications in itself. Even if created, “It is so easy to beat the system. Terrorists can puff their cheeks or put on glasses. Innocent people will come up as hits while the terrorists get through,” Roberts said.
While Orandella hopes Blackberry computers and the facial recognition programs will successfully increase levels of security, Roberts maintains that these will create “a false sense of security.”
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