Aviation security at Trinidad and Tobago’s airports

AT approximately 2 am on April 17, a man who had just arrived from Panama was shot several times while in seated parked vehicle with a friend outside the arrival area at Piarco International Airport. The man and his friend who was also shot were both taken to hospital by ambulance where the man was pronounced dead on arrival.

The incident raised serious questions about the effectiveness of security systems at Trinidad and Tobago’s international airports as required by the Trinidad and Tobago Civil [(No.8) Aviation Security] Regulations (TTCARS No.8).

The basic threats to airport security from terrorism can take the form of physical attack using conventional weapons, vehicles, explosives, flammables, chemical, radiological and biological agents, or the use of cyber methods to adversely impact aviation safety systems and infrastructure.

TT, as a signatory to the Chicago Convention, has a serious treaty obligation to comply with the standards of the ICAO Annex 17 - Aviation Security.

Within the last decade there were several major terrorist landside attacks at international airports, the worst being a suicide attack on the morning of March 22, 2016 at Belgium Brussels Airport where the three perpetrators and several civilians were killed and hundreds more injured.

As a result of these landside attacks, Annex 17 – Security was amended to require all countries to ensure that landside areas at airports are identified and that security measures are established to mitigate the risk of and to prevent possible acts of unlawful interference in accordance with risk assessments carried out by the relevant entities.

Annex 17 – Security also require airports to ensure co-ordination of landside security measures among relevant departments and other agencies of the state to identify appropriate responsibilities for landside security identified in its National Civil Aviation Security Programme.

TTCARS No.8 define “landside” as the area of an airport and buildings to which both travelling passengers and the non-travelling public have unrestricted access.

Landside security measures must be well coordinated at strategic checkpoints to identify persons and vehicles on a random basis. Surveillance can be done using methods such as CCTV, overt and covert armed patrols, the use of K-9s and sufficient lighting of landside areas.

The Airports Authority of TT (AATT) employs trained and qualified aviation security officers to enforce landside security requirements of its approved aerodrome security programme in accordance with TTCARS No:8. However, within recent times, whenever there is a shortage of security manpower, traffic wardens are used. Traffic wardens can regulate motor vehicle traffic and enforce no parking zones.

However, they are not trained in aviation security landside procedures as required by TTCARS No.8. Therefore, they must be directly supervised by qualified AATT security officers.

Also, there should be a police post on the landside of TT’s airports manned 24/7.

After a recent visit to the AATT, the visionary Minister of Transport and Civil Aviation identified the integration of modern technology as one of the critical areas that requires immediate enhancement.

An example of modern technology is the automated licence plate recognition systems (ALPR) for landside security used by several international airports including JFK International Airport, New York. ALPR systems and not expensive and use cameras and software to analyse licence plates for real time identification and tracking of vehicles.

Installation of ALPR cameras must tactically cover chokepoints and key areas along the roadways to capture both front and rear licence plates, ensuring comprehensive coverage of vehicles entering airport premises.

The system cameras can capture a vehicle’s front and rear with the licence plates as it approaches the Piarco terminal departure areas. The system can interrogate the Transport Division electronic records real time. The software will detect whether the image of the vehicle and license plate data matches with the Transport Division records. If there is a mismatch, the system will automatically generate an immediate alert to the departure security checkpoint with a picture of the vehicle for interception for further investigation.

Airports are now installing gunshot detection systems (GDS) which use acoustic and infra-red sensors to detect the noise and the flash of light associated with the discharge of a weapon in all public areas of airport terminals. The system use this technology to rapidly locate the source of gunshots within a terminal by triangulation on the origin of the shot. The GDS immediately provides security personnel with the information for a rapid response to the incident.

Another key concern is the serviceability of the video management and surveillance systems (VMSS) at TT’s airports where the downtime of CCTV cameras should be kept to an absolute minimum. VMSS must have a robust maintenance programme to achieve high levels of reliability.

In 2018 the Airports Council International (ACI) published the first edition of a landside security handbook.

The ACI handbook is intended to help airports benefit from the experiences of others in ensuring that all aspects of prevention, deterrence and incident management have been considered in their own security programmes. It updates and brings together the best elements of managing airport security from current experience of those involved in this critical task from airports around the world.

The AATT is a member of ACI and most certainly should be utilising the guidance contained in this handbook.

Another technology used to track vehicles at airports is the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. Act No. 15 of 2020 which was assented to on 15th June, 2020 provides for the use of RFID electronic tags on all motor vehicles. The tags are capable of producing an electronic record of the information in the Transport Division registers when the electronic tag is read by an electronic reading device.

Act No. 15 of 2020 also provides for the use of spot speed cameras which can electronically measure the speed of a moving vehicle. If there is speed exceedance, using the data from the license plate, the speeding ticket can be sent to the owner of the vehicle by electronic means. This system is fully automated with minimum human intervention.

After five years of being on the statue books, the provisions of the act are yet to be implemented by the Transport Division.

Guyana has successfully implemented an automated speed ticketing system using spot speed cameras as part of its safe road intelligent system project. The cameras are also designed to detect other traffic offences, such as false licence plates and unsafe vehicle modifications.