FOCUS: HOMELAND SECURITY
NFTA upgrades security to guard against terror attacks
$12 million in federal funds buys high-tech gear to deter terrorism
You may not give it a second thought when you board a Metro Bus, descend into the subway or hop a flight at Buffalo Niagara International Airport.
But in the last four years alone, about $12 million has been poured into Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority facilities by the federal government — just to make them safe from terrorists.
Aside from major transit systems in cities like New York and Chicago, the NFTA ranks among the biggest recipients of Department of Homeland Security dollars in the nation. In the post-9/11 transportation world, such huge expenditures are now part of everyday operations.
“Technology plays an important role in keeping our transit infrastructure safe,” said Sara Kuban, a Homeland Security spokeswoman. “The goal is to reduce the threat.”
In Buffalo, the new expenditures mean:
• An increase from 73 surveillance cameras in the Metro Rail system to 170.
• The addition of sophisticated new screens to monitor the subway in Metro Rail’s operations center in downtown Buffalo.
• New and strengthened fencing at major bus garages and at the airport.
• The introduction of security card systems at NFTA facilities.
While attacks on U.S. transit systems have been practically non-existent, violence on commuter trains and subways in Tokyo, London and Madrid have heightened awareness around the world wherever large numbers of people are conveyed.
The mere fact that such crowds gather in commuter systems demands that precautions be taken, said Kim Minkel, the NFTA’s director of health, safety and environmental quality.
“If you look at what’s happening in the world, like in Israel, a lot of terrorist activity takes place on buses,” she said. “A vehicle becomes a bomb. We look to prevent someone from taking over a vehicle or causing damage to our facilities.”
As a result, security cameras now provide more intense surveillance along the Metro Rail system than ever before, with personnel monitoring every station and access point on sophisticated new screens.
The surveillance system is a high-tech approach that keeps an eye on the tunnel and crowded trains and stations with little infringement on normal activity.
“Unfortunately, terrorists look to large accumulations of people,” Minkel said. “[The surveillance system] limits the opportunity for someone to do that.”
At the same time, new fencing at bus garages and the airport keeps anyone with harmful intentions from entering NFTA facilities, she added.
About $3.2 million of the approximately $12 million awarded has been invested in airport security, she said, with the rest in the transit system.
With federal transportation officials listing Buffalo as a “Tier 2” transit system, the NFTA operation has emerged as one of the top recipients in its class. Bigger transit operations in cities like San Diego, Miami and Orlando have obtained nowhere near the level of funding the NFTA has snared in the past two years, Minkel said.
“Remember that we’re also a border city, so there is more of a risk in the region,” she said, adding that the authority was able to identify its vulnerabilities to compete for the federal dollars available.
And Homeland Security’s Kuban said the NFTA fared well for another reason — it submitted a “high quality application.”
“They supported it very well, and that’s why they received so much from the program,” she said.
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