Twitter
Facebook
Predicting a 99.9 percent accuracy and success rate, security personnel at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center recently unveiled a pedestrian-activated automatic gate.
People entering the post through Gate 1, on the western edge of LRMC’s grounds, are now using their swiped IACS-based identification cards. The new system, designed by Johnson Controls, Inc., will reduce the necessity to have guards present at the gate.
***image2***The gate is directly up a steep hill from the village of Landstuhl and has for some time been closed to vehicle traffic.
People generally refer to Gate 1 as the “walk-in gate” and a turnstile remains for people to use when exiting at that point. Taxis routinely park outside this gate and hospital employees often park along the outlying street then walk up to enter the post there.
“The new booth is compliant with the Americans With Disabilities Act,” said Jim Otto of the U.S. Army Garrison force protection. “People can bring bicycles through this gate and parents can take baby strollers.”
The new gate booth will always be connected to another monitor in case people run into problems accessing the post. Once the ID card is used to gain access to the new booth, a biometric fingerprint scan will open the door and admit people onto the post. If the fingerprint scan does not match, that person will still be admitted provided they can be identified through other proper means.
“They have similar gates at Kleber and Daenner kasernes,” said Paul Fevold, security chief at LRMC. “Through monitoring those two and addressing errors, they’ve come up with this newest model. We expect it to be very accurate and extremely easy to use.”
Many people who work or spend time at LRMC will never use the new gate booth. Gate 1 is not accessed by a large segment of the people attached to the hospital. Still, the traffic in and out of the gate has necessitated the presence of security guards there and farther east toward the facility’s emergency room entrance.
The booth contains search and scan capability to determine whether extra and unwanted people are attempting to access the base. If more than one person is in the booth, these sensors will alert security. When the extra person is a baby or young child, who does not use an ID card, admittance will be allowed.
“The system will take some getting used to, but it will ultimately enhance the process of entering and exiting the post,” Mr. Otto said. “People need to give it time and they will see how trouble-free it is to use. This is really not that big of an issue.”
