December 12, 2005

Mall Security

America's malls face a challenge: keeping terrorists out, welcoming shoppers in. We wouldn't put up with metal detectors, so "mall cops" are left to guard the front lines.

The nation's second-largest mall company is right here in Chicago, managing everything from Oakbrook Center to Water Tower Place. They're using video surveillance that might impress the Pentagon, training their guards to study how shoppers act, not just how they look.

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"This is Honolulu, Hawaii; Houston, Texas; Altemont near Orlando, Florida..."

From his laptop here in Chicago, David Levenberg, vice president of security for General Growth Properties, can keep an eye on 40 shopping malls -- all at once.

"Your security guys here could be on their laptop in their cubicle, paying attention to what's happening around the country?" I ask.
"Right. That's technology! That's the beauty of the new technology," Levenberg says.

As terrorists have downsized their attacks, from the twin towers to trains, America's shopping centers are increasingly watching their backs.

"How long before this country sees a simultaneous ten explosions in Starbucks in middle America?" I ask.
"You know, I don't think we can ever predict or even try to predict when that may happen," says Levenberg. "I think everybody I've talked to within the government -- FBI, DHS -- feel as if the likelihood is there will be an attack inside the U.S. at some point in the future unless something changes."

So Levenberg's company is changing how it protects each of its 210 malls. They're trying out fancy technology, used at the Super Bowl, to recognize bad guys' faces. They're even considering "sniffers" to check the air for chemical weapons. But it's smarter surveillance that's helped Israel stop more than a hundred attempted shopping mall attacks.

"People don't wake up one morning and say 'I'm going to put on my backpack and go blow myself up in a shopping center,' " explains Levenberg. "Even in London, we saw video and photographs of these four guys who did dry runs."

"We concentrate on training our people as to what to look for," he continues.
"Why did this guy circle around and take a digital photo of something over here?" I ask.
"-- and once we recognize that, what do we do with it?  How do we act upon that?"

Malls are also testing their reaction, should security miss the warning signs before an attack. Levenberg supervised this massive drill, code named "Dark Cloud," in northern California.

"The scenario was a kiddie balloon vendor that was in the mall with a cart, who eventually released a toxic chemical in the mall," he says.

"Due to an emergency we must evacuate the building," a recorded public address announcement in the Northridge Fashion Mall declared.

Using the vaunted surveillance system, mall security rewinds to find the terrorists' license plate. They also spot a briefcase bomb: only after firefighters are sent in to save shoppers.

"The secondary device is found to be a highly explosive device with a timer," explains the simulation's narrator.

In this drill, the bomb squad wins. In the real world, that briefcase could have blown up the mall, along with those first responders.

"I only wish there was a foolproof technique or piece of equipment that could guarantee that kind of thing would ever happen. Unfortunately, today, there is not," says Levenberg.

What there is, is a harder target. Not the metal detectors and sharpshooters the military recommended after 9/11, but better and smarter technology.

"If I take this particular camera and I want to watch this roof at night, I draw a little area and if there's any movement in that area during that time period, it will bring this up as an alarm," says Levenberg, demonstrating the remote surveillance software on his laptop. "So again, now I don't have to sit there and watch my roof access all night. I know that it's protected."

Here's a good example of how they're using that technology: Used to be, if someone was found in a back hallway, security would just shoo them away. Now, they try to interview them, save their picture, get a license plate number. Anything to help authorities trace a terror plan.

© Fox Television Stations, Inc. All rights reserved.

December 12, 2005 in Homeland Security |

September 19, 2005

Target: Transit

Even before 9/11, terrorists were targeting buses and trains. We've watched them hit transit in Tokyo, Madrid, and London. Experts say: it's only a matter of time before they strike here in the United States. So what are we doing to stop them? And is it enough?

Picture the crushing holiday crowds at Chicago's airports. More people rode the CTA today than will pass through O'hare and Midway over the entire Thanksgiving weekend. Yet the feds only provide a penny per passenger for security on buses or trains... compared to seven or eight bucks for each plane passenger. In my Closer Look tonight, a rare look at what the CTA's done, and hasn't done, to protect a known target.

Click here for streaming video.

"We can see, in real time, what's going on," explains CTA President Frank Kruesi.

This is the CTA's newest weapon against crime and terrorism. Live camera feeds from the Douglas branch of the Blue Line. Crystal-clear images of passengers and platforms: the kind of surveillance that proved crucial in London this summer.

"How soon in terms of months, years, will you have the system camera-ready?"
"The real answer is: it's never completely done," replies Kruesi.

So far, only 17 of 144 rail stations have cameras. None are yet plugged-in to the city's 911 center. In fact, they're not even all connected to the CTA Operations Center. While every bus has cameras, they can't be monitored.

"Do you think you're moving quickly enough in this world of terror that we live in?"
"I think there's always the question of 'We'd like to be able to do more things more quickly,' " Kruesi concedes.

The CTA hopes to install nearly 1,200 cameras by the end of next year. Many of them, in Chicago's subways: a potential target that seems sorely lacking in surveillance.

"Technology is great so far as it goes. But when a terrorist strikes or a natural disaster hits our city, we cannot count on the technological toys," explains Jackie Leavy with the Campaign for Better Transit.

Leavy says: cameras are good, but not enough. She'd like to see more people, with trained eyes and ears, working the system.

"We see the canine patrol and the Chicago cops down here for a festival. We don't see them on a routine basis," says Leavy.

In New York City, police officers with automatic weapons patrol platforms. Canine teams climb aboard trains, checking for explosives. And this summer, police started inspecting passengers' bags. Here in Chicago, passengers describe security sweeps as scattered and hurried, with officers only peeking in windows. Back in New York, cops stand guard wherever tunnels meet rivers. Chicago uses private patrols at these sensitive posts. They're unarmed, and make only $9 an hour.

"There's no such thing as 'perfectly safe' in this world," says Kruesi. "That's part of the importance in letting our customers know, and the public know, that 'if you see something, say something.' Don't wait until after the fact and say 'that did seem suspicious to me.' "

But critics say: even Chicago's "See Something, Say Something" campaign falls flat. Compare this poster to one from New York, which screams: "Take Your Things. Or We Will." And even that pales in comparison with classic propaganda from World War Two.

"The thing is not to be terrorized by terrorism. That's the point of terrorism: to terrify people," says Kruesi.

Since the September eleventh attacks, the CTA has spent more than $150 million on security. They've invested in safety, too. Should the worst happen, how would you escape? Heavy wooden gangplanks will help car-to-car evacuations. These sturdy ladders should help, if you have to climb down onto the tracks. Before you panic and reach to open a door, stay put and wait for instructions.

"Don't do this?"
"Don't do this."
"This is last resort?"
"This is absolutely what I would call 'last resort,' " explains Jack Hruby, CTA's vice president for rail operations.

The CTA has added intercoms to each rail car. You'll find them under these blue lights. They're designed to let passengers talk with the train operator: often the only source of help. The CTA fired its conductors nearly a decade ago, so rail operators now work alone -- on trains with as many as 1,300 riders.

"What car number are we on?"
"Hello?"
"Yeah, we're here."

The intercom hiccupped, during a demonstration for our cameras.

"We work very hard to make sure those are maintained in good order and they work," explains Kruesi.

Problems persist with overhead announcements, too. But Kruesi says they've fixed key problems, like "dead zones" in the subway, where emergency radios would fail.

"We have actually just completed the upgrade of that. Two weeks ago it went live. So we now have full coverage and its much better, throughout the system," Kruesi says.

The CTA will soon add cell phone service underground, to further boost communications. They'll be able to quickly turn the system off, to thwart cell-phone bombs, like those used in Madrid.

We've learned lessons and we're going to be learning more," adds Kruesi.

These new trash bags came from London, and should make it easier to spot a bomb. The fact that some see an attack on a major U.S. transit system as inevitable doesn't stop Kruesi and his team.

"I think the attitude that you can't stop something shouldn't translate into 'don't try to,' " concludes Kruesi.

The CTA says: putting that "second person" back on the 'L would cost $13 million a year. And conductors were never meant to be security guards. They remind us: crime continues to fall, and we don't see every security precaution, like undercover cops who ride the system. The challenge remains: protecting a known target while still getting everyone to work on time.

© Fox Television Stations, Inc. All rights reserved.

September 19, 2005 in Homeland Security |