Tactical profiling of suspicious fliers by CISF at airports soon

New Delhi: The Central Industrial Security Force is in the process of strengthening its security drills to enable it to tactically check the profiles of suspicious fliers and at the same time reduce time-consuming security drills at airports. This gains significance in the aftermath of the recent Karachi airport attacks in Pakistan.

CISF chief Arvind Ranjan, who was earlier head of the elite National Security Guard, is also keen to ensure that CISF personnel get training at par with that of “Black Cat” commandos.

“We have decided to substitute the ritual checking of passengers with a new protocol of tactical profiling. After months of training we have prepared our personnel, who are adept in the profiling of suspicious or fraudulent passengers, thereby reducing the time taken to screen fliers,” Mr Ranjan said. Sources said the CISF, which handles security at 59 civil airport terminals and is in the process of taking over some more in future, has asked its Airport Security Group units and personnel to increase their “intelligent profiling” of air travellers. However, the pre-embarkation security frisking of passengers will continue for some time.

Saying that the CISF was the “first responder” in case of terror incidents at airports, Mr Ranjan said the skills of its personnel in tactical deployment and quick mobilisation of reaction teams in case of emergencies, whether due to armed or unarmed attackers, needed to be honed.

What has given a shot in the arm to all efforts to revamp airport security protocols is the new Immigration, Visa Foreigners’ Registration and Tracking (IVFRT) system. Home ministry officials said the system was in place at almost all Indian missions, immigration checkposts and FRRO/FRO offices which have been computerised and networked to develop a secure and integrated delivery framework to facilitate “legitimate travellers”.

In addition to the “unobtrusive” security mechanism grid now being put in place, the CISF has also increased the number of officers in critical tasks. It has also increased the number of its courses in courtesy and personal interaction skills.