Mayor, airport officials brief committee on whole-body imaging and $5 million camera upgrade at SFO

Mayor Gavin Newsom and San Francisco International Airport Director John Martin briefed the Rules Committee on Jan. 7 about several security investments at SFO, including whole-body imaging scanners that have been used in pilot programs and a $5 million grant to upgrade airport security cameras. Newsom said the airport had been among the first to experiment with screening technologies and noted the city "supports the technology" as a security tool.

Director John Martin emphasized privacy protocols in place at the airport: he said the image reviewer "is not physically present next to the machine," images cannot be printed and the system uses pixelation to avoid facial recognition. Martin said the airport has had the technology in pilot deployment and that, "we started to use this technology about 12 months ago" and the machines are part of a pilot at 19 airports.

The airport also announced about $5 million in funding for a camera upgrade project to shift to new megapixel technology and improve back-office systems. Committee members asked about the number of scanners the airport would like to have and about potential effects on screening lines; airport staff said ideal placement would be at multiple entry points and acknowledged the technology increased processing time per passenger during piloting. The briefing closed with an offer to provide more technical and procurement details to the committee as federal funding and deployment plans develop.