MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – There is now a new surveillance system in place at Miami International Airport to bust intruders trying to breach its fence — and it’s the first airport in the nation to have it installed.
Right now, along MIA’s perimeter, the new security technology is in place to track in real-time, on camera. It’s called a Perimeter Intrusion Detection System and it’s part of a pilot program from the Transportation Security Administration.
“Perimeter breaches happen not very frequently, but they do happen, and this technology gives us another tool in the toolbox, along with our security forces, to not only limit the amount of times that it happens, but also be able to apprehend the individuals who do that,” airport director Ralph Cutié said.
The company behind the technology, Senstar, says on its website that the systems “create an invisible ‘wall’ of infrared or microwave beams around the perimeter. If an intruder breaks the beam, the system triggers an alarm.”
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava participated in an airfield demonstration of the new tech on Tuesday. She showed one of dozens of new cameras that know exactly where to look because of fiber optic cables along the fence line.
Someone is watching, knowing exactly where to dispatch police.
“So we just don’t have cameras; we have something called LIDAR,” TSA official Jim Bamberger said. “It is like a radar system. We have a visual system; we have a laser wall. All these are integrated so we can first see a fence breach, then we have radar and LIDAR that will track that individual.”
MIA officials also explained that “ground-based radars generate real-time tracks with precise location details at very high speeds to support rapid, safety-of-life decision processes.”
Officials said the TSA is picking up half of the cost, while the county aviation department will fund the rest over the next few years.