Volume 4 (2010)

The Journal of Physical Security 4(1), 2010

Welcome to the latest issue, 4(1) of the Journal of Physical Security. This is a very eclectic issue. It includes papers about museum security, using private citizens to neutralize shooters and armed assailants, and how to combine data from various security sensors to decide on an intrusion threshold. There is also a paper about techniques for detecting sticky bombs on motor vehicles, and a discussion of the peer-review process and physical security.

The latter paper, by Associate Editor Jon Warner, is meant inter alia to address questions that our contributors and potential contributors have frequently asked about the peer review process used by this journal and many others. While a peer review process is common in science and engineering (and often familiar to researchers in cryptography, criminology, or cyber security), people who work in physical security may not have previously encountered the concept.

Jon’s paper also contains a brief analysis of the type and number of journals and papers about physical security. One of the reasons we started the Journal of Physical Security (JPS) was because of a perceived lack of journals devoted to physical security, especially peerreviewed journals. Jon’s analysis suggests their continues to be a need for this type of journal.

As usual, the views expressed by the authors and the editor in the Journal of Physical Security are their own, and should not necessarily be ascribed to Argonne National Laboratory, UChicago LLC, or the United States Department of Energy.

DOWNLOAD: PDF [57 pages, 2.9MB] - You may also download the articles separately (see below).

CITE as: Journal of Physical Security, Vol. 4 no. 1, 2010, http://jps.anl.gov/

Editor’s Comments
Roger G. Johnston

After September 11^th, the United States indicated it would undertake an effort to reach out to the world to communicate our values and discourage the development of violent fundamentalism. Where is this effort?...

DOWNLOAD: PDF [9 pages, 121KB]

CITE as: Journal of Physical Security, Vol. 4 no. 1, 2010, http://jps.anl.gov/

Paper 1 - Formal Evaluation of a Majority Voting Concept to Improve the Dependability of Multiple Technology Sensors
Francesco Flammini

Finding a good trade-off among the probability of detection (POD), the false alarm rate (FAR) and the reliability of detectors is a very important task in physical security system design. Existing solutions try to achieve this aim either by using the most advanced technologies or by combining basic sensors in logical OR/AND relations. However, these approaches are either not cost-effective or they do not allow for the necessary flexibility to obtain the right balance. In this paper I propose a majority voting scheme for multiple technology detectors which I evaluate using stochastic modelling techniques....

DOWNLOAD: PDF [9 pages, 937KB]

CITE as: Journal of Physical Security, Vol. 4 no. 1, Paper 1, 2010, http://jps.anl.gov/

Paper 2 - The Strategic Citizen: A Physical Security Model for Strategic Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP)
Shawn F. Peppers

The current physical security paradigm that engages an active shooter primarily depends upon law enforcement - which has response time limitations. From the time of the shooter’s first shot until his incapacitation, 3 to 4 minutes have elapsed, with the shooter having shot a person every 15 seconds. The Strategic Citizen, derived from the Federal Flight Deck Officer (FFDO) Program, is a conceptual homeland security model for enhancing the physical security of Critical Infrastructure and Key Resources (CIKR) against armed assault...

DOWNLOAD: PDF [12 pages, 143KB]

CITE as: Journal of Physical Security, Vol. 4 no. 1, Paper 2, 2010, http://jps.anl.gov/

Paper 3 - What’s with All This Peer-Review Stuff Anyway? (*)
Jon S. Warner

The Journal of Physical Security was ostensibly started to deal with a perceived lack of peer-reviewed journals related to the field of physical security. In fact, concerns have been expressed that the field of physical security is scarcely a field at all...

(*) Editor’s Note: This paper was not peer reviewed.

DOWNLOAD: PDF [9 pages, 116KB]

CITE as: Journal of Physical Security, Vol. 4 no. 1, Paper 3, 2010, http://jps.anl.gov/

Paper 4 - Viewpoint Paper: Museum Security and the Thomas Crown Affair (**)
Eric C. Michaud

Over the years, I’ve daydreamed about stealing a Vermeer, a Picasso, or Rembrandt. It tickles me, as much as watching the reboot of The Thomas Crown Affair. Why is it, do you suppose, so much fun (despite the obvious immorality) to think about stealing a world renowned piece off the wall of a major metropolitan museum? Is it the romantic thoughts of getting away with it, walking past infrared detectors, and pressure sensors ala Indiana Jones with the sack of sand to remove the idol without triggering the security system? Is it the idea of snatching items with such fantastic prices, where the romance of possessing an item of such value is less intoxicating than selling it to a private collector for it to never be seen again? I suspect others share my daydreams as they watch theater or hear of a brazen daylight heist at museums around the world, or from private collections...

(**) Editor’s Note: This paper was not peer reviewed.

DOWNLOAD: PDF [5 pages, 87KB]

CITE as: Journal of Physical Security, Vol. 4 no. 1, Paper 4, 2010, http://jps.anl.gov/

Paper 5 - Sticky Bomb Detection with Other Implications for Vehicle Security (***)
Roger G. Johnston, Jim Vetrone, and Jon S. Warner

A “sticky bomb” is a type of improvised explosive device (IED) placed on a motor vehicle by (for example) a terrorist. The bomb is typically attached with adhesive (“duct”) tape, or with magnets. This paper reports some preliminary results for a very rudimentary demonstration of two techniques for detecting the placement of a sticky bomb on a motor vehicle. There are other possible security applications for these techniques as well...

(***) Editor’s Note: This paper was not peer reviewed.

DOWNLOAD: PDF [11 pages, 1.8MB]

CITE as: Journal of Physical Security, Vol. 4 no. 1, Paper 5, 2010, http://jps.anl.gov/