Early in the morning of November 28, 2014, a gunman started shooting up the recently opened federal courthouse, the Mexican consulate and the Austin Police Department headquarters in Texas. In the middle of the melee was standing a Delta bullet-proof guard booth. The gunman was killed; nobody else was injured. Delta Scientific, the Californian manufacturer of counter-terrorist vehicle control systems, reported that no bullets penetrated its bullet-proof guard booth, pictured.
Jeremy Andrews, Delta Scientific sales manager, says: “Most everyone is familiar with the standard manned guard booth, in which a person sits and allows drivers in and out of a facility. However, government facilities, border stations, military bases and other locales where there can be a ‘very unwanted guest’ all use much higher security booths, such as our bullet-resistant units.”
According to Andrews, bullet-resistant booths can be specified as Level 1, 2, 3 or 4, with 4 providing the highest level of resistance. Bullet-resistant booths are tested and certified to conform to Underwriters Laboratories standard UL 752 and others as required. If wanted, they are pre-wired to N.E.C. (i.e. 125 AMP, 120/240 Volt, 6/12 station, single phase or whatever current is used in that region) and come fully assembled, ready for service. Typically, the specifications for a bullet-resistant booth will include –
Protection against
Impact – Level 1
Handgun – 9mm or .357 – Level 2
Handgun .44 magnum, 5.5 ammunition or 12g shotgun – Level 3
High-power rifle such as a 30.06, 7.62 ammunition, hand grenade, high explosive – Level 4
All structural members meet or exceed ASTM A500
Sliding or swing door fabricated from structural steel with heavy duty hardware for bullet resistance
All electrical components will be UL approved and installed in accordance with the N.E.C.
Delta bullet-resistant Level 4 booths protect such locations as the Pentagon in Washington, DC, Ontario Airport and US and other nations’ embassies. Fifty custom-designed bullet-resistant guard booths are now in use at the San Ysidro Landed Port of Entry (SYLPOE), the busiest land port in the world, between San Diego in the USA and Tijuana in Mexico, which processes an average of 50,000 northbound vehicles per day. The majority of the traffic lanes will have two stacked bullet-resistant inspection booths created by Delta Scientific. Visit www.deltascientific.com.
