The technology marketplace offers electronic devices designed to make life easier, simpler, faster, and safer. In the post-9/11 world, building owners, tenants, and occupants are concerned about threats - from terrorism, crime, and workplace violence to theft, intruders, and industrial espionage. Technology is one of several approaches that can mitigate potential threats, especially as part of overall security planning.

A comprehensive security plan encompasses three elements: design (architectural, engineering, landscaping), technology, and building operations. Each element can be effective alone, but the best results are achieved when all three are considered together.

Good planning and design can eliminate the need for some security posts by providing:

• High observation capabilities.
• Emphasis on open, transparent areas and avoiding alcoves where intruders can hide.
• High lighting levels and other technology.
• Low shrubs.

Closed-circuit television (CCTV), monitors, electronic fencing, and smart cards are among technologies that can replace the need for security personnel, especially in remote, dangerous, or extreme climate areas or where labor costs are high. The initial costs of electronic equipment, along with training, warranties, and maintenance, should be amortized on a long-term basis, especially when considering additional security-related one-time capital and annual operational costs for security personnel. Reliability and efficiency are other evaluation criteria. Performing a life-cycle cost analysis will illustrate overall short- and long-term budget impact.

To further illustrate this balance, when planning correctional facilities, the ideal approach is to provide corridors and spaces that allow maximum visibility by people and cameras to ensure safety and reduce the number of officer posts required. A rule of thumb has been to calculate each post as $250,000 in annual operating costs, when several individuals staff a single position, 24/7/365, with salaries and benefits. Eliminating several officer positions through design enhancements and use of technology can provide long-range operational savings to agencies.

Threat Analysis
To best consider the options for balancing costs and solutions, security planning should begin during the early project phases and involve the owner's team, in-house security personnel or security consultants, architects, engineers, and design professionals.

A threat analysis identifies scenarios and when they are most likely to occur, such as at large public gatherings and dignitary visits. Factors include geographic location, adjacent facilities, and building functions. The nature and identity of the building owner and occupants may also reveal potential risks, such as foreign companies in commercial high-rises and businesses handling confidential data or money. The security team should review the existing capabilities of mitigating each scenario, determine where weaknesses lie, and the solutions - whether design, technology, operational, or a combination of each - that will best address each potential threat.

Trends
New technology advances, such as video analytics or "smart cameras," can establish invisible or virtual fencing around a site perimeter, an advantage where aesthetics count. At transportation facilities, smart cameras and motion detectors can detect size and speed of any object and relay messages to the alarm system if the object's characteristics exceed an accepted range.

"The trend is toward new applications with enhanced functions and capability of communicating with other systems," says Robert Martino, associate principal, Shen Milsom & Wilke Inc., New York City. An example is a motion detector from a security system that can be used as an occupancy indicator reporting to a building management system to control lighting and temperature. Integration of different systems can collect huge amounts of data. End-users, however, must decide what to do with the data.

Common Sense Prevails
When all else fails, say many security consultants, apply common sense. If the system is too complex for in-house operators to use, the effectiveness will be compromised.

A basic guide to security technology applications includes:

• Fence technology provides perimeter and site security and may be connected to alarms and video. Electric fences, pulsed, and fiber-optics are available.
• Access control deters intruders from entering a facility and ensures only authorized personnel are allowed to enter. Combining one or more systems can delay or deny access. Combination locks, magnetic strip access cards often in combination with keypads, and proximity card readers are readily available.
• Biometric technology, used for identity confirmation and access control, can verify information on an access card against unique personal features, such as hand geometry, fingerprints, iris or retinal scans, and facial recognition. When combined with access controls, it can prevent the use of borrowed pass cards, a common problem at many businesses.
• Revolving door portals allow passage of only one person at a time and prevent tailgating, another major security problem. This occurs when an authorized person opens a door and an unauthorized person enters at the same time, resulting in a security breach.
• Weapons detection systems, such as magnetometers, metal detectors, and hand wands, can identify metal objects and hazardous materials and are often used at airports, civic facilities, and public lobbies.
• CCTV video capabilities photograph and record images with cameras. Images are displayed on a console and may be stored for future use. Popular features include visible and infrared spectrum; digital and analog formats; indoor and outdoor uses; pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ) models; and monitors integrated with building systems. Recent advances include fully digital systems with recorders and Internet Provider (IP) cameras delivering a digitized, compressed image on Ethernet-based local area networks. Wireless cameras are available, removing the need for cabling. Other systems offer digital storage, motion detection recording, and high-resolution capabilities.

Barbara A. Nadel, FAIA, is principal at New York City-based Barbara Nadel Architect, specializing in planning and design of justice and institutional facilities. She is editor-in-chief of Building Security: Handbook for Architectural Planning and Design (McGraw-Hill, 2004) and writes a security column on www.buildings.com.