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High-rise safety is balancing act

Lobby metal detectors and cameras are fixtures in buildings now, but they can only go so far.

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published December 19, 2006

CHICAGO - Electronic ID cards, surveillance cameras and metal detectors are fixtures in high-rise office buildings, but experts say with thousands whizzing through the revolving doors each day, it's impossible to guarantee workers' safety.

More than five years after Sept. 11, security for high-rises is still a tricky balance of protecting workers and doing it without choking off commerce.

Even with all the security gizmos and gadgets, a lone gunman with a grudge against an attorney marched into Chicago's Citigroup Center this month and forced a security guard to take him to the 38th floor, bypassing turnstiles that require photo ID cards. When he reached his destination, he killed three men and shot a woman in the foot before he was shot by SWAT snipers.

"What can you do when someone is holding a gun on someone?" said David Hooks, spokesman for the Citigroup Center.

Chicago police Superintendent Phil Cline says that security should be up to high-rise tenants and that it's not practical to put a metal detector in every lobby.

Security isn't a one-size-fits-all proposition and must include specific security threats, state and city requirements, and cost, said Santo Scribani, regional vice president for American Commercial Security Services, a Houston-based subsidiary of ABM Industries Inc. "It's a tremendous balancing act; it's the same balancing act that law enforcement encounters."

Other high-tech options like palm print or retinal scans and facial recognition programs exist, but aren't widely used because they're not cost-effective and the public's not comfortable using them, Scribani said.

High-profile targets, including the Empire State Building in New York and Chicago's Sears Tower, have metal detectors or walk-through X-ray scanners.

The cost of protecting high-rises varies by property, depending on tenants, whether security is contracted out and other factors, Vukas said.

Still, it's impossible to prepare for every scenario. "Since 9/11, all buildings have increased security, but ... when someone is willing to give up their own life to get at someone else, I don't know how you stop that," Vukas said.

[Last modified December 19, 2006, 00:40:49]