HAWTHORNE, Calif. -- Rapiscan Systems, a division of OSI Systems, Inc., announced that it has received an order from BAA plc (formerly the British Airport Authority and one of the world's leading airport companies), to purchase the three Secure 1000 Body Scanners that are being used in an aviation passenger screening trial. The units purchased are installed at London's Heathrow Airport, Terminal 4.
For the trial, passengers selected for enhanced inspection were given the option of either a "pat-down" search or an inspection by the Secure 1000. Approximately 90 percent of all passengers chose the Secure 1000 inspection over the more invasive search. To alleviate privacy concerns, Rapiscan worked with BAA to develop a system whereby passengers are screened by members of the same gender, no visual contact is made between the screener and the passenger, and all images of screened passengers are permanently deleted once the process is completed.
BAA Director of Security Ian Hutcheson stated, "We are very pleased with the substantial improvement that the Secure has made to our security processes, and we look forward to further deployments at our airports."
President of Rapiscan Systems Ajay Mehra stated, "This is a landmark order for the aviation industry and passenger checkpoint inspection. We intend to continue to grow the market for the Secure 1000 in both aviation and nonaviation markets."
The Rapiscan Secure 1000 is a non-intrusive personnel screening system designed to detect metallic and nonmetallic threat objects utilizing Rapiscan's proprietary backscatter X-ray technology. The Secure 1000 enables security personnel to detect ceramic, plastic, metallic, organic, and other contraband or security threats. The system provides a comprehensive body search in seconds, eliminating the need for intrusive and less-effective hands-on body searches by security personnel.
