There Is Profiling
Reader comment on item: Should airport security procedures include ethnic and religious profiling?

Submitted by Steve39 (United States), Nov 18, 2006 at 22:06

During several recent flights, it was clear that there is some form of profiling. Sitting on the chairs waiting for frisking were a commercial airline pilot, several kids under 10 and two people over 70. One of the two had forgotten to declare the bottle of jam given to her as a gift and had become a suspect because of this (she also was in a wheel chair, which she clearly needed).

So the profile approach is to the select the least likely candidates of singling out. No chance of a showdown with a 10 year old. And the stats look the same.

Also, to keep the numbers high, keep looking for those undeclared toothpaste tubes and bottles of mouth wash.

And never look into the eyes of a suspect, just look mindlessly at his or her luggage (or doll if the suspect is a girl under five).

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