Airport security check time to be halved for fliers: CISF

In order to enhance passenger comfort, the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) has decided to cut security checks and frisking time at the airports to almost half of the present time taken.

The force has prepared a four-point new standard operating procedure for its security personnel who are deployed at the country’s 59 civil airports to frisk and identify genuine travelling passengers and scan suspect baggage.

“We have decided to cut the security check time for air fliers at airports by half. At present, our officials take 7-8 minutes to complete the frisking and identification of passengers but now we plan to cut it down by half to about 4 minutes,” Chief of CISF airport security unit O P Singh told PTI.

Singh said new modules and SOPs have been developed to enable the CISF security men achieve this target.

“We have initiated a new profiling mechanism by which the security person intelligently identifies between a genuine and a fake or suspect passenger. Once that is done, the security personnel are being trained to quickly go through three details in the air ticket which is checking the correct flight number, date, time and the valid I-card of the passenger,” Additional Director General (CISF) Singh said.

Authorities of the force are particularly driven to undertake such measures after a latest survey they conducted among passengers at Indian airports found out that extended waiting time for security checks was troubling maximum number of air fliers in the country.

Source: http://indianexpress.com/article/business/companies/airport-security-check-time-to-be-halved-for-fliers-cisf/

CISF enhances security at all airports post Chennai blasts

The CISF on Thursday issued alert across all domestic and international airports in the country to step up security in the wake of the Chennai blasts. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) headquarters in New Delhi issued orders asking all Airport Security Groups (ASGs) at 59 airports to tighten access-control, enhance quick reaction teams and undertake multiple screening of suspect passengers.

“We have alerted all the airport units that we are securing in the country in the wake of the blasts. The orders are clear that vigil should be maximum without any hassle to genuine passengers,” Chief of CISF Airport Security O. P. Singh told PTI.

Mr. Singh, who is in the rank of Additional Director General, said the anti-sabotage teams deployed at all the large and small airports have been asked to conduct surprise drills in and around the ‘air side’ and ‘terminal side’ of these facilities even as the intelligence wing of the force has been asked to keep a check on suspect passengers and people moving around the area.

The CISF is the mandated security force that secures 59 civil airports in the country. Officials said the vigil has been heightened to thwart any disruptive activity at these facilities which see lakhs of people travelling every day to destinations in India and abroad.

The security agency has also asked its troops to undertake the ‘secondary point ladder checking’ in case of a suspicious activity or passenger. This frisking is done after a passenger crosses the initial security checking and is just about to board the aircraft.

Two minor-intensity bombs rocked the Guwahati-Bangalore Express at the Chennai Central Railway station early Thursday morning claiming a woman’s life and leaving 14 others injured.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/cisf-enhances-security-at-all-airports-post-chennai-blasts/article5966369.ece