The base is making it easier and safer for pedestrians on the installation’s west side to get on and off the base.
A new pedestrian-only entry point will open Aug. 10 just north of the base’s West Gate, allowing base pedestrians to avoid the heavy West Gate traffic.
The turnstile gate will allow a single pedestrian to enter based on a positive electronic read of the person’s ID card, combined with a positive vascular scan of the back of their hand. A vascular scan reads the blood vessel pattern in the back of a person’s hand using infrared light, a safe and tamper-proof method of identification.
The vascular scan meets the Air Force standard for requiring a “biometric modality” to be a part of any unmanned installation access control point.
The new system will require users to register their ID and vascular scan prior to using the gate.
The day the gate opens, people can register by going to the West Gate Visitor Control Center between 8:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Monday through Friday with their valid Common Access Card or Defense Biometric Identification System card.
As previously publicized, the West Gate Visitor Control Center will continue to be closed for other services such as visitor passes. Once the bulk of interested users have been registered, hours will be reduced to a couple of hours per week. These hours will be advertised and posted on the door to the West Gate VCC.
Registration will require users to provide some simple demographic information for the system, and the on-duty clerk will then scan their ID and the back of their hand with the vascular scanner.
The user is then registered and can enter the base by approaching the turnstile gate and repeating the two scans. The turnstile will release, allowing one person to enter before relocking.
This new gate was installed for those who wish to patronize the new businesses being developed just outside the installation boundary. The pedestrian gate will be open the same hours as the West Gate, but will be secured when no security forces personnel are posted there.
This is an exciting new option that will allow base pedestrians to avoid the heavy West Gate traffic when walking on and off base.
It is also a new system that may have some bugs and glitches as it comes on line. The 75th Security Forces Squadron requests patience if there is any temporary difficulty using the gate.
For more information, call 75th SFS at 801-586-9192.