Wednesday, Aug. 20, 2008

PNNL to test high-tech security system at Americans games

By John Trumbo, Herald staff writer

Tri-City Americans fans attending home hockey games in September and October can expect to be discreetly checked for explosive devices and other security threats as part of a test of high-tech detection systems by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory.

The tryout of systems using infrared, millimeter wave radar and video analysis technologies is at the request of the Department of Homeland Security, said Nick Lombardo, manager for the project.

PNNL employees will begin setting up the systems at the Toyota Center next week, with training and testing of the integrated systems to occur the first two weeks in September, Lombardo told the Kennewick City Council on Tuesday.

"We've worked with about two dozen agencies to determine the best technologies, some of them have been used in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is going beyond airport screening. We are trying to understand how to screen a public event and how effective the existing technologies are," Lombardo said.

The tests will try out technologies that could prevent suicide bomber attacks or bombs planted by a terrorist, Lombardo noted. The actual testing will begin Sept. 20 and continue for approximately six home games, he said.

Fans going to the games on those dates will be directed through several routes toward the main entrance, although those who want to opt out of being subjected to the screening will be given a different entrance to the arena, Lombardo said.

A mobile command and control center located near the Toyota Center will receive and analyze data obtained through checking people as they pass by the detection equipment. But Lombardo said the technologies are designed to operate at a distance, meaning the public won't have to slow down to go through a gate or a monitor as is done at airport screenings.

Homeland Security officials want the public to know they can bypass the screening because those who do participate will be giving up their right to privacy, and police can question them, Lombardo said.

Kennewick police and Hanford Patrol officers will be trained to operate the equipment and to question people who attract the attention of the detection systems.

Lombardo said there will be some testing done by using made-up threats. He said this is the only field test site in the nation. "We need to learn how this works and then tell the industries what to prepare for," Lombardo said. The test is part of a seven-year program between Homeland Security and PNNL.