Practical Travel Safety Issues - Troopers begin BOS patrols w/machine guns

For Full Article See:
www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/06/13-bos-guns.htm (http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003/06/13-bos-guns.htm)

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BOSTON (AP) — An elite state police unit armed with submachine guns began patrolling Logan International Airport at full strength for the first time on Thursday in a move airport officials said would bring peace of mind to the traveling public.

Officials said the special Anti-Terrorism unit is the first permanent security force stationed at a U.S. airport to be armed with submachine guns.

"It's a deterrent and I think it's a comfort for the travelers," said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan.
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Are you feeling safer yet? I wonder if the guns are even loaded? IIRC, the guns the National Guard toted after 9/11 weren't loaded.

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The guns are MP-5's with 30-round clips and a two-round burst capacity, meaning two shots are fired automatically with one push of the trigger. The guns, designed for accuracy indoors, have noise suppressor units to minimize alarm among travelers if they're used.
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Are you feeling safer yet? So this special unit could splatter blood yet minimize alarm among travelers as they won't hear the gunshots ... great.

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The unit will conduct security sweeps, roadblocks, intelligence gathering and passenger behavior pattern recognition, a procedure developed by Israeli airport security forces to identify potentially dangerous passengers. It will also act as a rapid response team to terrorist incidents and other high-risk situations.
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Say goodbye to the 1st, 4th, and other amendments when using Boston's Logan Airport. The last thing we need is an Israeli style gestapo police force working our airports. If I wanted to endure Israeli style "security", I would move to Israel or other police state nations.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

I haven't been to Germany in awhile but I bet they are still doing this for about 25 years.The US is behind the times for security.Dobermans,Shepards, and Rott's add a nice touch

[This message has been edited by tsadude (edited 06-15-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tsadude:
I haven't been to Germany in awhile but I bet they are still doing this for about 25 years.The US is behind the times for security.Dobermans,Shepards, and Rott's add a nice touch

[This message has been edited by tsadude (edited 06-15-2003).]</font>

I have been to Germany recently and they do in fact have armed guards with submachine guns. However, that is Germany. Last time I checked, I don't live in Germany.

I'll be the first to admit airport security sucks here in the United States and is esentially window dressing. It might make some individuals of the traveling public feel better, but it won't to squat as a deterrant against some Islamic Fundamentialist who plans on giving up his life anyhow.

As it is right now the traveling public gets harassed by the TSA with all these silly directives, yet there are so many loopholes in the system it's like swiss cheese. When it comes to employee enterances, access to ramps for catering, access to GA areas and access to cargo areas, anyone who is determined can gain access to sterile areas of airports (and aircraft) without any security screening.

If another hijacking like 9/11 happens, it's going to be the passengers defending the aircraft.

Best,

SDF_Traveler

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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

You have named many areas that we have discussed amongst ourselves as real security problems.I think that initially the TSA was a bandaid to keep an industry from crumbling. Hopefully the TSA will turn its attention to these other areas soon and away from the pax.

[This message has been edited by tsadude (edited 06-15-2003).]

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tsadude:
You have named many areas that we have discussed amongst ourselves as real security problems.I think that initially the TSA was a bandaid to keep an industry from crumbling. </font>

What industry got the bandaid? Surely you don't mean the airline industry.



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"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety
deserve neither liberty nor safety." -- Ben Franklin

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by tazi:
What industry got the bandaid? Surely you don't mean the airline industry.
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Of course he does. TSA was a quick governmnet reaction to reassure the people that airline security was a top priority and that it was safe to get back into the air. Now the infrastructure is in place and they can begin refining the TSA so it can do it's job more effectively and with less outward intrusion towards passengers. Or at least that's the theory.

It's better to have trained LEOs doing this rather than 80 hour training rent-a-magnometer operators.

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Saving the world, one clue at a time.

You could not afford enough trained LEO's. Thier training is not free. The TSA was smart enough to hire a fair amount of former military and police. The problem is that we are not allowed to use common sense because the higher ups are too scared for that.