Star base and in general, ship docking bay security is awful in Star Trek

[urrutiap]

Not just in the old Star Trek movies but also recently in the newer Star Trek shows.

whether its Picard and his gang or Kirk and his crew sneaking into starbases to steal a ship for wacky shenanigans in space,

starbase security is the shits . there's always at least just one or two wimpy security guards or console guards that suck at trying to arrest a group of people that are just walking into a starbase in outer space and to steal a ship to do wacky outer space stuff like time travel just to get a whale or two to save life in the future or to steal a ship to go and get into fights against Klingons or a group of renegade changelings that are in league with the Borg somewhat

 

[DonIago]

It's almost as though security needs to be unrealistically lax (particularly by the standards the future could be assumed to reasonably have available) in order for the stories we're watching to work.

That said, there are instances where Starfleet security makes a fairly reasonable effort as well.

 

[Gul Sengosts]

Yeah it annoys me too to see such useless security everywhere, but I guess if they were competent there'd never be an escape, a breach, etc.

 

[kkt]

Just writers in a hurry. If they wrote realistic base security, the Good Guys would have to spend an hour of airtime figuring out how to get around it, and that's not what they want to tell their story about.

 

[DonIago]

Next time, on Star Trek: The Next Generation: Will Picard and Co. be able to hack the spacedock doors so they can steal the E-D and go rescue Data?

 

[kkt]

Next time, on Star Trek: The Next Generation: Will Picard and Co. be able to hack the spacedock doors so they can steal the E-D and go rescue Data?

What, you think they'll fail and Data will be dismantled for parts because of whatever difficulty he's in?

 

[at Quark's]

I'd say not just physical security, but security in general seems very poor in Trek. How often can they access information without even having to identify themselves? Or even if systems are secured, how often haven't we seen people crack supposedly highly secure systems in 5 minutes or less? And stuff like 'Picard-Alpha-Alpha-Delta-Blue' or whatever don't exactly sound like highly secure codes either, do they? (Granted, there are authorisation codes rather than passwords, but still - should be trivially easy to fake with voice synthesis, unless there are additional verifications (e.g. on biosigns) we aren't aware of).

 

[somebuddyX]

I'm fine with it. I think it's mostly handled well for the couple of minutes airtime in the franchise. It's not a documentary and the writer/producers/actors/directors tried their best.

 

[The Wormhole]

starbase security is the shits

And Mary had a little lamb. These are things we know.

 

[DonIago]

To me the most gaping security flaw is probably in "Brothers", only because Our Heroes have been aware of Data's capabilities and the fact that he could be compromised, yet apparently no precautions were ever taken to prevent him from being able to seize control of a Galaxy-class vessel in under five minutes.

Soong's little homing beacon could have caused massive problems.

 

[F. King Daniel]

This is kind of a television problem, it's bigger than Star Trek. If the heroes or baddies need to be in somewhere... they get in. And this often requires a lot of people to be very dumb.

 

[urrutiap]

I think Kirk and gang were lucky that day to steal a ship due to Sulu wearing his fancy cape

 

[1001001]

 

[mb22]

"This isn't reality....This is fantasy!"

 

[Jedman67]

 

[at Quark's]

This is kind of a television problem, it's bigger than Star Trek. If the heroes or baddies need to be in somewhere... they get in. And this often requires a lot of people to be very dumb.

Yes, or in order to create tension it requires designs to be outrageously ineffective.

For example, that time when Geordi and Beverly are trapped in a cargo bay, they need to get rid of some vats of dangerous material while a plasma fire is burning. The fire suppression systems are out, and the only thing they can think of is to open the doors, hold tight, wait till all the air is sucked out, then walk 10 meters gasping and falling through vacuum to a panel at the other side of the bay and then manually repressurize the bay again. Because obviously, you can't to that from the same (apparently fully functional) LCARS station they used to open the cargo bay doors in the first place (or preprogram an automated sequence to do it for you, for that matter).

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

I'm surprised there's no "Cone of Silence" when entering verbal authorizations.

This is to prevent "Eaves Droppers" from either recording the voice or the pass phrase itself.

 

[C.E. Evans]

That's the problem with living in the Federation. Security is lax by our standards because nobody there steals anymore...until they do.

 

[at Quark's]

That's the problem with living in the Federation. Security is lax by our standards because nobody there steals anymore...until they do.

Well, (deep) within the Federation, e.g. on Earth, that might be understandable.

But we usually see Starfleet starships that are going into the unknown, or stations bordering on areas of species we know aren't friendly. And we've seen enough security incidents by now you think the Starfleet admirals would start scratching their heads.

 

[The Wormhole]

And we've seen enough security incidents by now you think the Starfleet admirals would start scratching their heads.

If Starfleet Admirals tried to improve security procedures, they'd risk their own shady and evil activities being exposed.