"There is no anti-intrusion system that is completely inviolable. The real difference between a weak protection system and a more effective one is 'measurable' in the time it takes to violate it, to penetrate inside and carry out crimes ranging from terrorist actions, to thefts, to sabotage."
The engineer Ruggero Carpentiere, sales and marketing manager of Betafence Italia - a company from Tortoreto specialized in passive protection systems that is part of the Belgian group of the same name - destroys the myth of the absolute inviolability of some high-risk sites, but sheds light on how a defense system is all the more effective the longer the time needed to evade it.
Betafence Italia protects different sensitive sites such as barracks, railways and airports with its systems. It is on these places that the attention of terrorists and common criminals who want to score high impact media or high economic returns is concentrated. The need for protection, especially in relation to the dangers of terrorist attacks, is increasing day by day in the current historical moment, so the requests from users are growing considerably. Above all, as we said, at the level that is defined as "medium and high security".
The concept of inviolability, which as we said before is not practicable in an absolute sense, is at least approachable. The Betafence systems dedicated to barracks and highly sensitive sites, in fact, have been tested by the Belgian special forces that have put into play all their skills to "measure" the time needed to break through the barriers placed to protect high-risk places.
"The systems we have designed for military barracks and military bases guarantee an effective slowdown in the event of external attacks"Explains Carpentiere.
A system that requires about ten minutes or more to be neutralized, for example, allows the intervention of armed forces or of the order and the probability that those responsible for the intrusion are captured and brought to justice. A fence that can be bypassed in a few seconds, on the other hand, does not guarantee any of this.
How, technically, it is possible to obtain the result of "wasting time" for those who want to commit crimes of various kinds, explains Carpentiere. "The Securifor system for barracks, for example, is a type of fence that, in addition to having a function of deterrence and deterrence as all defense systems must have, has anti-climbing and anti-cut features that make it almost impossible to destroy or overcome. The goal can be achieved thanks to the very small mesh size and the strength of the steel wires, which have a high thickness of diameters. Several barracks of the Carabinieri and the Police, in Italy, are protected with our systems".
In simple words, threading any cutting tool through very tight and sturdy meshes becomes an arduous operation. At the same time, the fencing of barracks and military bases must guarantee visibility to allow military personnel to monitor what is happening outside, also through video surveillance systems and this is another characteristic of the Securifor. Similar systems, always in the field of high security, are adopted for temporary prisons and detention centers, where the objective is to avoid, in addition to intrusions from the outside, leaks from the inside.
Then there is a level that is defined as medium-high security and concerns motorways, railways, airports and ports. "Even in this case - explains the engineer - the Securifor range is the most important in the 'slowdown' category and has a wide range of strength that adapts to any type of need". Especially in times of terrorist attacks, airports must be protected from dangerous intrusions.
The demand to replace the old "chicken coops", large and thin mesh networks that are still used in various Italian airports, grows following the level of attention and fear expressed by common travelers and airport operators. Make it clear that only a few authorized people can access certain areas is essential to ensure safety and avoid unpleasant events.
