Empire State tragedy prompts security look

Real Estate Weekly, March 5, 1997 by Loiss Weiss

Security experts say building owners should take this incident at the Empire State Building as a prompt to rethink their own security devices.

While many owners responded to the bombing at the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993 by instituting new security measures, some have become lax since that time. In fact, the Empire State Building management used to hand check all tourists to the observatory, but gave up after a few months because it was too time-consuming.

Nevertheless, metal detectors were installed right after the incident and airport style x-ray machines are also coming to the famed skyscraper.

"We've been open for 67 years and it was a tragic horrible thing, and it could have happened anywhere but unfortunately it happened here," said Lydia Ruth, a spokesperson for the Empire State Building. "We hope everyone in the hospital recovers. We're all in shock. It's like someone invaded our family and did something horrible to us."

She said while they stopped checking all bags, they did reserve the right to search them and have done so on occasion.

But should the detectors have been installed earlier? Alan Kaminsky, a partner with Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker, who defends owners involved in negligence suits, expects lawsuits will be filed against the building and said a court will end up determining if the metal detectors were reasonable and necessary.

"My advice [to owners] is to act reasonably, but what is reasonable varies from case to case," said Kaminsky.

He and the other professionals interviewed all said that an individual bent on a crime will commit it no matter what an owner does, but owners can try to deter the crime from happening and certainly try to keep it from happening on their premises.

"When they get around the metal detectors, the question will be, 'Why didn't you have more security guards?,' or something else," Kaminsky said, noting that a crazed gunman determined to commit a crime might not even be mentally capable of noticing security measures.

Kaminsky says the public cannot ask a landowner to assume a role that society cannot fulfill, but nevertheless, when a criminal act occurs inside the building, people expect the landowner to have security.

"Landowners do have a responsibility," he said, "and if there is no security, that might not be reasonable."

While there is no cut and dry definition of what is reasonable, what the courts do say is that a landowner has to have reasonable security to guard against reasonably, foreseeable incidents.

Other criminal acts or incidents in the building, including the bomb threat that occurred at the Empire State Building right after the World Trade Center bombing, will probably be brought up during any court actions.

Kaminsky said he is often defending building owners who have locks and security, but crimes still occur in the buildings.

"The problem I have is the my clients didn't commit the crimes, he said. "We're being asked to step into the shoes of the criminal to pay a judgement he should be paying."

As defenses, he will bring up what the owner has done, such as having roving security guards, special locks, video cameras, etc., including the building's participation in community anti-crime patrols such as those organized through Business Improvement Districts. The Empire State Building, in fact, is a member of the 34th Street Partnership that also has its own security force patrolling streets.

Electronic Technology Corp. (ETC) is located in, and designed the state-of-the-art security system for 200 Park Avenue, the Met Life Building. They also engineered and designed the CCTV cameras for surveillance, crowd control, and personal safety during the Pope's last visit and represent other high profile buildings in the city.

Steven Ketchabaw, managing director of ETC, said owners have many options. Closed circuit television cameras can be adjusted to automatically lock on an area when a motion detector is tripped, such as in a stairwell, or when a 'scream' alert is set off in an elevator.

A high profile building could have swipe card access points at elevators and magnetic door locks at entrances and exits, that can be automatically controlled. Options include floor lobbies that after hours can act as traps for criminals who can come out of offices but then can't use the elevators. Elevators can be adjusted to operate with only swipe cards during certain hours.

"A landmarked building like the Empire State Building should have access control with photo ID access cards and a locking system tied into that, an intercom and CCTV which all interface," Ketchabaw suggested. "I would also increase guards at the manned entrance for the tourists. The metal detector was a good idea."

One thing he suggested is that messengers and visitors should be given "big, bold" ID cards or stickers to wear while in the building. These can be printed with the date, time and the floor being visited, so someone without this can be challenged if found in another area or floor.

Epic Security's Mark J. Lerner, Ph.D., said it would be too interruptive to screen for weapons in the average Manhattan office building, but added "You don't have to be Nostradamus to know the Empire State Building needed metal detectors." He says that's because the building is a symbol known by people all over the world.