High-Volume Court Building Entrance Security: X-Ray Scanning and WTMD for 1,500+ Daily Visitors

The court complex had, until this project, no formal security screening at its entrances. Visitors entered through a wide vehicular and pedestrian gate with police personnel on duty, but there was no scanning of bags, briefcases, or clothing for weapons, contraband, or prohibited items. The police personnel were empowered to conduct manual searches on reasonable suspicion, but the volume of visitors — and the status of lawyers and senior advocates who resisted manual search — meant that in practice, the entrance was functionally open.

A series of security incidents at court complexes in Dhaka and other Bangladesh cities in the preceding three years — including the smuggling of prohibited items into court holding areas and one serious weapons incident at a Chittagong court complex — had prompted the Ministry of Law and the court administration to revisit entrance security as a priority. The court's chief magistrate formally requested that the district court security be upgraded to include electronic screening.

The operational challenge was formidable. Screening 1,500-2,000 visitors through an entrance without creating queue times that would disrupt court proceedings — hearings start at fixed times and parties who are late to hearings face contempt risk — was the primary design constraint. The security design needed to achieve genuine threat detection while maintaining throughput equivalent to the existing unscreened entrance.

The visitor profile added complexity. The court's daily visitors include senior advocates and judges who would resist the same screening process applied to the general public, creating the need for a differentiated screening lane that would maintain dignity without compromising security. It also included persons arriving under police escort (accused persons on remand), who required a separate, secured screening pathway from general public visitors.

Luggage and carry-in items were another dimension: lawyers routinely carry heavy briefcases and document bags through the entrance. The X-ray scanner tunnel dimension needed to accommodate standard legal briefcases (which can be 60cm long and 40cm deep) and document folders, not just standard shopping bags.

SSAL designed and installed a multi-lane entrance security checkpoint at the court complex's main entrance, using Astrophysics X-ray scanners and UVScan walk-through metal detectors.

Astrophysics TF-6040AWD X-Ray Scanners — 2 Units: Two Astrophysics TF-6040AWD dual-view X-ray security scanners were installed at the two primary screening lanes. The TF-6040AWD features a 60x40cm tunnel aperture — accommodating standard legal briefcases, document tubes, and hand baggage — and dual-view (90-degree offset views) imaging that provides security operators with both a lateral and top-down X-ray view simultaneously, significantly improving detection capability compared to single-view systems.

The TF-6040AWD is an airport-standard system used at international airports and high-security facilities. It produces colour-coded X-ray imagery where organic materials (paper, clothing, food) are displayed in orange, inorganic materials (metals) in blue, and mixed density materials in green. The system supports threat image projection (TIP) — the ability to superimpose practice threat images on live scan images to assess operator alertness — and automatically archives all scan images for 30 days for audit purposes.

Each scanner station is staffed by a trained security operator (court police personnel trained by SSAL as part of the project scope) who reviews the X-ray images in real time. A secondary inspection table is positioned adjacent to each scanner for manual examination of flagged items.

UVScan Walk-Through Metal Detectors — 3 Units: Three UVScan Pro-3D walk-through metal detectors (WTMD) were installed — one dedicated to each of the primary screening lanes (general public and professional/advocate lanes) and one at the VIP/judge entrance lane. The UVScan Pro-3D is a 33-zone discriminating WTMD that can localize a metal detection alarm to the specific body zone where the metal is detected — head and neck, torso, hip, or legs — enabling security personnel to direct hand wand examination to the specific zone rather than conducting a full body search, significantly speeding secondary screening.

Sensitivity was calibrated specifically for the court environment. The nuisance alarm rate of a WTMD is a key operational parameter: in a setting where lawyers carry belt buckles, watches, mobile phones, and metal-clasp briefcases, a WTMD set at maximum sensitivity will alarm on almost every passage, making the screening checkpoint a bottleneck. SSAL's commissioning team spent two days calibrating the WTMD sensitivity thresholds to alarm reliably on handgun-sized metal masses while minimizing alarms from common everyday items, achieving a nuisance alarm rate of approximately 1 in 12 passages — manageable with secondary hand wand screening.

Hand-Held Metal Detector Wands — 6 Units: Six UVScan hand-held metal detector wands were provided for secondary screening — confirming alarm locations identified by the WTMD and completing screening of individuals who have difficulty passing through the WTMD (elderly or disabled persons, persons with medical implants). Wands are deployed by security personnel at the secondary examination area adjacent to each screening lane.

Checkpoint Layout — 4 Lanes: The entrance checkpoint was configured in a 4-lane arrangement:

• Lane 1 (General Public): TF-6040AWD X-ray scanner + UVScan WTMD, staff by 3 security personnel
• Lane 2 (Professional/Advocate): TF-6040AWD X-ray scanner + UVScan WTMD, staff by 2 security personnel; this lane uses the same equipment but provides additional space for briefcase unloading and a seated waiting area for advocates who require secondary screening
• Lane 3 (VIP/Judge): UVScan WTMD + hand wand secondary only (no X-ray scanner in this lane, consistent with protocol for known credentialed individuals)
• Lane 4 (Prisoner Escort): A secured lane with direct access to the holding area, screened separately from public areas, with a UVScan WTMD and a holding room for pre-hearing processing of remanded persons

Physical barriers (queue management stanchions and fixed lane dividers) enforce lane separation. Signage in Bangla and English directs visitors to the appropriate lane based on their status.

CCTV Integration: The checkpoint area is covered by Hikvision 4MP cameras (4 units, already in the project scope) providing video coverage of all four lanes from fixed overhead angles. Camera footage is retained for 30 days, consistent with the X-ray image archive, enabling full reconstruction of any incident at the checkpoint.

Operator Training: SSAL conducted a 3-day training programme for 12 court security personnel (police officers assigned to court security) covering X-ray image interpretation, WTMD operation and calibration, hand wand technique, secondary search procedure, and checkpoint management during peak arrival periods.