DBIDS farewell to slow gate traffic

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Travis Beihl
  • 81st Training Wing Public Affairs

Personnel at the 81st Security Forces Squadron upgraded the technology they use at the gate checkpoints to improve traffic flow and boost security.

The Defense Biometrics Identification System, a force protection tool in the form of a handheld ID card scanner, uses barcodes and biometrics to identify cardholders. The system now has a reduced scan speed and the scan devise is smaller.

“The new 5.0 version builds a local cache (which causes) the scan time to cut back from 5-6 seconds down to approximately 1 second,” said Staff Sgt. Jasmine Chase, 81st SFS electronic security systems NCO in charge. “And with the integration of the National Crime Information Center into the DBIDS system, we can detect individuals who may be a threat to Keesler AFB or its personnel in real time before they are able to gain entry and do any harm.”

With the scan times cut down, this means visitors with base access won’t have to wait in traffic as long as they did before.

“In the first week we increased our scan rate by almost 2,000 scans per week,” said Chase. “We can also ensure 100 percent detection of unauthorized personnel and invalid credentials.”

According to Derrick Austin, Air Force Security Forces Center Chief of Police Services and Installation Access Control, DBIDS is installed at every Air Force installation stateside and overseas, including Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard bases.

“If a person’s status changes for any reason, like being barred, once the status is updated in DBIDS by the barring authority, all installation entry controllers will see the person as barred,” said Austin. “In six years, DBIDS annual scan statistics increased from 1 million scans per year to 86 million scans in 2016.”

In 2016, entry controllers detected 4,000 people with warrants, flagged 233 armed and dangerous, 71,000 personnel with terminated ID Cards, 3,500 barred, 73,000 expired ID cards and 22,580 ID cards reported lost or stolen.

“If you see your entry controllers using the DBIDS scanners during peak traffic hours, assist them by having your credentials ready to be scanned and understand if minor delays occur, there’s a good chance an unauthorized person has been detected,” Austin said. “It’s for everyone’s safety.”

(Information from an Air Force Installation and Mission Support Center article was used in this story.)