Building Security
A final thought before I am away from my computers today. Last Friday a gunmen entered the Citibanc Center at 500 W Madison. At gun point, he forced a building security guard to take him to a law office and give him access. He then proceeded to kill 3 people before he was killed by Chicago Police. Reports Saturday said it was his second attempt to access the law office that day.
In my own building we have security guards all over the place. They stand in the lobbies, run a security desk that gives out building passes, and man check points where one needs to swipe a building ID or show a temp pass to gain access to the elevators. All this security is little more than for show.
First off, swiping the ID over the censors at the check points is pretty much pointless. The picture on my building ID is obscured by a mechanism designed to attach it to my belt. Even it wasn't I usually palm the id where the security guard can't see it at all. No questions are ever asked as long as the green light comes on. These IDs use a simple RFID mechanism. The equipment needed to read and copy a signal onto a new RFID is not prohibitively expensive.
Second, the check points are even more useless because it takes little to get a temporary pass. I forget my ID at my desk about once a week when leaving for lunch. I go to the security desk and ask for a temp pass. The guards generally recognize my face and about 10% of the time don't check my name against their database of people with access. They just hand me a pass. A coworker also pointed out that his wife has gotten a pass by just checking in. I think they would call up to his desk to get permission but that is pretty flimsy security.
Once past the check points a person can ride up 3 of the 4 elevator banks without hinderance including the one to my floor. There is another secure door that requires a building ID swipe again. But if you don't have one there is a security desk inside the door and the attendant will pretty much let anyone in. The rest of the company comes down to get printouts so faces are not easily recognized. And if the security guard isn't present, wait a minute and one of the employees will likely let a person in unchecked. Or you can just trail in a person entering the floor that came up on the next elevator.
So, as I said, the security is just there for show. It's to make people feel safe. It is a show that was started after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and D.C. Prior to that the check points and secuirty desk in the lobby didn't exist. (Although the security doors at to access the office floors did.) This show of security is not a hinderance to anyone with a modicum of desire to get in. And that doesn't even take into consideration the gunman situation that occurred Friday afternoon. But that is what people want to see. They want to feel safe.
I'm sure there will be the requisite discussion of building security after this most recent incident. There may even be a crackdown on secuirty for a few months. But there won't be any real security implemented. If there was it would take much longer to get into the buildings. At rush hour or after lunch hour the lines to get in would be horrendous. Businesses and employees alike would complain. And I would be one of the loudest.
We live in a free society. Sure, as Hobbes pointed out, secuirty and safety are required for that freedom. Otherwise man spends all his time fighting with each other in an attempt to be safe. But there is a limit. Excessive security does not lead to excessive freedom. Just the opposite. It leads to police states and closed societies. If you don't believe that, try taking that 1/2 gallon tub of shampoo you just bought at CostCo onto a commerical airline.
In my own building we have security guards all over the place. They stand in the lobbies, run a security desk that gives out building passes, and man check points where one needs to swipe a building ID or show a temp pass to gain access to the elevators. All this security is little more than for show.
First off, swiping the ID over the censors at the check points is pretty much pointless. The picture on my building ID is obscured by a mechanism designed to attach it to my belt. Even it wasn't I usually palm the id where the security guard can't see it at all. No questions are ever asked as long as the green light comes on. These IDs use a simple RFID mechanism. The equipment needed to read and copy a signal onto a new RFID is not prohibitively expensive.
Second, the check points are even more useless because it takes little to get a temporary pass. I forget my ID at my desk about once a week when leaving for lunch. I go to the security desk and ask for a temp pass. The guards generally recognize my face and about 10% of the time don't check my name against their database of people with access. They just hand me a pass. A coworker also pointed out that his wife has gotten a pass by just checking in. I think they would call up to his desk to get permission but that is pretty flimsy security.
Once past the check points a person can ride up 3 of the 4 elevator banks without hinderance including the one to my floor. There is another secure door that requires a building ID swipe again. But if you don't have one there is a security desk inside the door and the attendant will pretty much let anyone in. The rest of the company comes down to get printouts so faces are not easily recognized. And if the security guard isn't present, wait a minute and one of the employees will likely let a person in unchecked. Or you can just trail in a person entering the floor that came up on the next elevator.
So, as I said, the security is just there for show. It's to make people feel safe. It is a show that was started after the 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and D.C. Prior to that the check points and secuirty desk in the lobby didn't exist. (Although the security doors at to access the office floors did.) This show of security is not a hinderance to anyone with a modicum of desire to get in. And that doesn't even take into consideration the gunman situation that occurred Friday afternoon. But that is what people want to see. They want to feel safe.
I'm sure there will be the requisite discussion of building security after this most recent incident. There may even be a crackdown on secuirty for a few months. But there won't be any real security implemented. If there was it would take much longer to get into the buildings. At rush hour or after lunch hour the lines to get in would be horrendous. Businesses and employees alike would complain. And I would be one of the loudest.
We live in a free society. Sure, as Hobbes pointed out, secuirty and safety are required for that freedom. Otherwise man spends all his time fighting with each other in an attempt to be safe. But there is a limit. Excessive security does not lead to excessive freedom. Just the opposite. It leads to police states and closed societies. If you don't believe that, try taking that 1/2 gallon tub of shampoo you just bought at CostCo onto a commerical airline.
posted by LP Cards Fan at
3:47 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home