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Profiling may not be good for screening

Reader comment on item: A Call for Intelligent Profiling[ by Frederick Schauer]

Submitted by Ronald Fox (United States), Jan 2, 2004 at 17:11

Profiling may be good for catching perpetrators, but it is obviously of limited value in preventing preplanned acts of terrorism.

Profiling can be a positive danger. Imagine this scenario. Airport screeners use Middle Eastern extraction as a prime factor. Terrorists are aware of this, and also wish to target a flight. The most logical course for them is to send a non-Middle Eastern terrorist (of which there will be more in the future), and to send several middle-Eastern decoys along on the same flight. The inspectors will busily turn their resources to search the Middle Easterners, and the active terrorist will have a lower-than-chance probability of being caught.

Terrorists can profile as well as police. It would be a tremendous disadvantage to depend primarily on racial profiling on flight screening. I don't disagree on principle with the use of profiling, but it would be very dangerous if it made us drop our guard.
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Reader comments (17) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
Old timer [29 words]Alexandeer M SmithJan 7, 2004 22:1113229
Historical, and present, profiling [225 words]Pauline T. EarlesJan 3, 2004 16:1613071
Racial Profiling [192 words]Gisele ElekJan 2, 2004 23:2613062
Profiling may not be good for screening [151 words]Ronald FoxJan 2, 2004 17:1113056
Profiling. [103 words]E. & M. M.Jan 1, 2004 20:3113041
Profiling of Caucasion Middle American Senior Citizens [205 words]Russell PooleJan 1, 2004 13:0413039
Profiling is Intelligent [561 words]Arlinda DeAngelisJan 1, 2004 11:3013038
Re:profiling [131 words]Dan KatcherDec 31, 2003 13:0213025
A Call for Intelligent Profiling Art. No. 1385 [43 words]S.C.PandaDec 31, 2003 02:2713018
Justification for profiling [126 words]Sidney RetskyDec 30, 2003 22:3113016
Profiling is not only legitimate but indispensable [121 words]Andrés Lozano HirschfeldDec 30, 2003 19:1213013
Profilling [271 words]Mrs. Johanna StephensDec 30, 2003 17:4413011
Profiling, Science vs. Instinct [107 words]Darwin BarrettDec 30, 2003 16:4413010
Minor Clarification [1059 words]Dr. James Buccigross, Forensic PsychologistDec 30, 2003 15:5513008
Profiling is necessary [68 words]Sam RichterDec 30, 2003 12:1313002
profiling [140 words]gary loftusDec 30, 2003 12:0013000
Non-resistance to profiling is actually a positive opportunity [185 words]Boris FrenkelDec 30, 2003 10:4512997

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