Twitter
Facebook
***image1***The U.S. Army Garrison Kaiserslautern is testing the
Enhanced Security Pedestrian Gate for use throughout the Army.
And, it lives up to its name – enhanced security. “It enhances the
security and efficiency because you have to defeat three or four
mechanisms before you can enter the installation,” said James Otto, the
garrison’s force protection and antiterrorism officer, who designed the
gate.
The first one was operational Monday at Gate 2 on Kleber Kaserne, and the one at Gate 1 on Daenner Kaserne opens Friday.
The garrison will be conducting field testing on these gates until the
end of the month. Evaluations and data from this testing will be
forwarded to the USAREUR Office of the Provost Marshal before
continuing to the Army’s OPM General.
“If we can continue to create efficiencies, reduce guard costs and
create a product that everyone is satisfied with, we will continue to
put those gates in place, not only here in Kaiserslautern but at other
installations throughout USAREUR,” said Mr. Otto.
After the first year, a savings of almost $200,000 a year per gate is
projected, said Mr. Otto, who explained that a guard post costs
$210,000 a year and these two gates so far are about $160,000 each. The
ESPEG gates replace the need for an onsite guard and add more
responsibilities to remote guards.
Mr. Otto said the backbone of these gates is the Installation Access
Control System, which has been recently implemented by USAREUR and U.S.
Air Forces in Europe.
“It uses the IACS database as the primary means of controlling the
entry to the installation,” he said. To use the gates, pedestrians must
place their ID cards into the outside bar code reader. If accepted, the
external door will unlock allowing entry into the pod.
“In simple terms, it’s providing a mantrap operation,” said Richard
Lewis, program manger for Johnson Controls, the contractor for building
these gates.
“This means people have to go through two forms of security to get onto the base.”
Once inside the mantrap, pedestrians place either the right or left
index finger onto the fingerprint scanner for the second form of
security. If the IACS recognizes the fingerprint with the barcode, the
other door will unlock, allowing access to the installation.
Mr. Otto said there are several other checks and balances to detect if something is wrong.
In those cases, he said an alarm will go off getting the attention of a
guard at a remote site. The guard is able to override the system if
necessary, for example, if the two people inside the pod are a mother
and child. The guard is able to see and hear inside the pod, which is
equipped with cameras and speakers. There is also a push-to-talk button
enabling pedestrians to talk with the guard.
“It’s a gate, but it’s still a guard,” said Mr. Otto. “If something
goes wrong or is out of the ordinary, a human makes the decision, not a
computer.”
The new gates save money and make life easier for Soldiers, as in the case of the gates on Kleber and Daenner.
Soldiers live on barracks at both posts, and they are often walking
between the two either due to work or shopping at the shoppette on
Kleber. The pedestrian gate on Kleber was not manned 24 hours, 7 days a
week, but the new ESPEG gate will be.
Five gates for Kaiserslautern have been funded. The other three will be
operational at Panzer Kaserne, Landstuhl Regional Medical Center
and another one at Kleber Ka-serne before the end of the year, said Mr.
Otto.
