Letters

Fast Forward

"Which Way to Better Controls?" by John J. Strauchs, CPP (January), was most interesting in its informative treatment of card access and biometric technologies. An independent opinion of where these technologies stand is clearly of interest to security professionals.

The sidebar, "Preventing Tailgating," was of special interest to Smarter Security and myself particularly the estimate of the annual market growth for optical turnstiles being 18 percent, some 50 percent greater than the growth rate of access control systems in general.

I would like to add an important update concerning the speed of handling pedestrian traffic. While most optical turnstiles available (using programmable logic controllers) require 2.3 seconds, on average, per person passing through them, more up-to-date technology employing microprocessors programmed with neural networks handles people much faster and with fewer false alarms. An example is the Fastlane range of optical turnstiles. Not only does this doubling of handling speed prevent a backup of people waiting to enter or exit during high traffic periods, it can also sometimes permit a company to use a smaller number of turnstile lanes to handle the required traffic, saving money. JOHN E. FORBAT

President

Smarter Security Systems, Inc.

Atlanta, Georgia

Lost Cause?

I read with interest the "News and Trends" item "The Drug War: Another Vietnam?" In 1990-1991, while a student at my military career-level school, my final paper asked this exact question. My experience in the war on drugs centered around my three previous years (1987-1990) working in Key West, Florida, as a watch commander for the Peacetime Reconnaissance Program and Counter-Narcotics surveillance operations.

I was closely involved with the standup of Joint Task Force Four and the initial influx of military assets to fight this war in the Caribbean. Our reach stretched from the coast of South America into Central Florida. Because this was a high profile program, following almost immediately...