Security-Search-Techniques-Accommodations

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] Crew living spaces can provide hiding places for smuggled goods, weapons, and other contraband. The ship's accommodation is also a prime target for individuals who may want to stash something dangerous among the belongings of an innocent and unknowing crew member. [MUSIC PLAYING] Your ship security plan establishes restricted areas to prevent unauthorized access, to protect crew members and officers from intruders, and to protect cargo, baggage, and personal property. Among these restricted areas may be navigation and machine spaces, ventilation and air conditioning systems, storage for hazardous substances and dangerous goods, cargo spaces, and the crew accommodation. [MUSIC PLAYING] The International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, ISPS, identifies various security measures that can and should be exercised to secure restricted areas. These can include locking or securing access points, using surveillance equipment to monitor the areas, using guards or patrols, and using automatic intrusion detection devices to alert the ship's personnel to unauthorized access. [MUSIC PLAYING] Besides detailing your general security procedures, the ship's security plan also has specific instructions for heightened security. If the MARSEC level increases, you may be asked to search all restricted areas, including the crew accommodation. [MUSIC PLAYING] Security Level 1 is the level for which minimum protective security measures shall be maintained at all times. Security Level 2 is the level where appropriate additional protective security measures shall be maintained as a result of heightened risk of a security incident. Security Level 3 requires further specific security measures when a security incident is probable or imminent. [MUSIC PLAYING] Conducting a thorough and effective search requires the proper equipment and preparation. Searchers should always work in twos and have had adequate training in search methods. They also require proper equipment-- checklists derived from the ship's security plan, what to look for and where it might be hidden, flashlights for dark spaces, cutters to open boxes or packages, rods to probe loose clothing for solid objects. Searchers should wear rubber or plastic gloves at all times, and be clean themselves, so as to leave the accommodation and its contents clean and orderly. [MUSIC PLAYING] Well, there's nothing hidden in the compartments or cabins. Maritime security consultant Ravi Shankar helps train officers and crews in proper search techniques. You start either at the bottom, gradually go to a higher level, and a higher level, and a higher level to the top, to the ceiling. Or you can start at the ceiling level, look at everything at that level, and move one level lower-- lower, lower, lower, lower, lower-- and then you come finally to the floor level. Always conduct searches when the cabin is unoccupied. Begin by dividing the room into several zones. These zones can be vertical-- top third, middle third, lower third-- or they can be horizontal-- a box five feet wide, floor to ceiling. The point is to search everything, literally everything, in that particular zone. So, every item which comes into that zone has got to be looked at, including a bed. When you get to the bed, you look at the corners of the bed, under the bed, over the bed, under the mattress, under the pillow, and between the pillowcases. All the nine yards, you go through. [MUSIC PLAYING] Remember that, as you execute your search, you must think like a person with something to hide. Think about where you would hide something if you were a smuggler or a terrorist. Check the contents of drawers and shelves. Pull the contents from racks and duffel bags. Look inside clothes lockers and in individual pieces of clothing. Look behind all objects on the walls-- clocks, pictures, vanities. [MUSIC PLAYING] We have some knife here. Searches may turn up hidden or concealed items which are suspicious, or simply items in plain sight that are potentially dangerous and have not been identified by other security procedures. In either case, the items are subject to seizure, and the occupant of the cabin subject to questioning. We found a knife here, for instance. We need to ask him how we got this knife, and what's he doing with this knife? So, this becomes part of your question process. So, we found this. Was this checked when he came on board? Did anybody find out that he had one on? We don't know. So, if we did not check it when he is coming on board, then our search was not good enough. Searches may not necessarily come up with contraband or illegal activity, but they may reveal lapses in security procedures, such as that knife with showed up with nobody knowing about. That's a lapse that can be critiqued, fixed, and the ship's security plan altered accordingly. [MUSIC PLAYING] Most ship security plans have a provision for the storage and quarantining of dangerous items, whether these items have been brought aboard illegally or are simply potential weapons that need to be controlled. All dangerous items are kept separately. They are not left with the personnel on board. As a general rule, they are all kept under a separate lock and key arrangement, and the key maintained by the personal security officer or the captain. Sometimes even the captain may decide to keep all these items under his own jurisdiction. Oh. Hello. Good afternoon. Ship's policy should encourage all those boarding to declare any potentially harmful items and, if necessary, to subject them to quarantine for the duration of the voyage. In this program, we've seen how restricted areas of the ship can be made secure and searched if necessary, concentrating on the crew accommodation. Here's a brief review. Ship's security plans establish restricted areas with limited access. The ISPS Code suggests methods to secure these restricted areas, especially during times of heightened security. Before you search any part of the ship, proper equipment and preparation are essential. Search techniques should be trained and practiced in drills. Finding something suspicious requires an explanation and possibly the quarantining of dangerous items for the duration of the voyage. Security searches are a necessary aspect of safe seamanship. If they are performed with courtesy, and with well-trained personnel, they will contribute to a safer vessel and increased well being for everybody aboard. [MUSIC PLAYING]