Boggie Dog

In the what's not news department or DHS OIG stays busy with TSA misconduct:

http://thehill.com/policy/transporta...cial-profiling

I believe this ties back in with the Red Team Test failures by MSP TSA.

Of course this is not the first time TSA has come under fire for racial profiling. HNL TSA was accused of racial profiling a few years ago.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...rs-itself.html

There have been other signs of such behavior and I would include the "Big Hair" pat downs as one sign of racial bias by TSA.

Here we start getting to the core issue, that TSA is just flat broken and I don't believe any amount of retraining can repair TSA at this point.

petaluma1

Totally agree with that as there are many complaints on AskTSA by women of color getting the hair grope while other women just walk on through. I have a friend, Caucasian, who has big hair and she has never been hair groped.

chollie

I could be wrong, but I doubt that Dolly Parton's hair gets frisked whenever she flies.

gingersnaps

How often does Dolly Parton fly? And when/if she does, is she precheck? Does she wear her hair "up"? You are straining to make an issue.

How about this, next time you fly, give yourself dreadlocks, OR huge pooffy hair.

The AITs alarm on clothing folds and sweat, should we expect it would not alarm on dreadlocks, thick braids, or puffy hair?

I would not expect much to come of this investigation. BDO's at Boston reported allegations of profiling. Yet I do not believe anything came of it.

As to the accusation from Andrew Rhoades,

"Rhoades made national news when he revealed that his supervisor asked him earlier in April to check potential visitors to the TSA offices with the agency's field intelligence officer "to determine if we want them in our office space or meet elsewhere."

"Mr. McMahon, a deputy federal security director, wrote that he “reminded employee that with our current world affairs that we need to be mindful of those we interact with."

“I have never been asked to give the names of anyone else who visited the office to the intelligence officer,” Mr. Rhoades said."


There may be a better chance for something to come of this, but I do not have much faith it will. TSA has not shown interest in addressing leadership misconduct.

I think "racial bias" is an overboard statement. Is it more likely that AITs are not that great?

And that the AIT software identifies certain hair styles as "alarms" (formerly anomalies). I would not accuse the TSA of deliberately targeting black females.

I would say the AIT software has an unpleasant impact on black females due to hairstyles. I am in no way suggesting fault on the part of black females. The AIT seems to be the issue and/or TSA policies.

gingersnaps

<quote of now deleted post and reply to it redacted by moderator>

There is definanetly something amiss with the AIT or other procedures that has a such an impact on black females.

To claim TSA is specifically and deliberatly targeting black females would be absurd and baseless. There is no evidence if such


There is evidence that black females with certain hair styles are impacted by AIT machines. But this is not specific or deliberate targeting. It is an unintended consequence created by machinery that other countries have rejected due to failures of the technology.

Boggie Dog

If Dolly does fly I bet its a charter and no TSA.

Boggie Dog

In regards to the highlighted sentence.

I would!

gingersnaps

Based on what evidence would you accuse TSA of deliberate targeting black females?

Do black females meet any stereotype for terrorism?

Or other stereotype that an Agency would create policy deliberately targetting them?

petaluma1

http://fusion.net/story/110149/aclu-...hair-patdowns/

If you think this is not still going on, you are sadly mistaken/misinformed.

KDS

I personally observed a TSO pat down the 1/8-inch-long hair of a young black lady at DEN after she exited the MMW. What could you possibly hide in 1/8-inch-long hair?

gingersnaps

I do not believe TSA has a "free pass" policy for black females with "sister locks" or black females with puffy hair styles. I believe individuals with such hairstyles still get head pats due to the AIT or a misinformed screener on when additional screening might be required.

I do believe that there is a "disproportionate impact" towards individuals with certain hairstyles; these individuals are black females. I attribute the disprotion to the technology.

As for "not able to see the scalp" reason. I believe a Screener would say something so ridiculous, and believe it too. I do not believe that is policy. If such ridiculousness were TSA policy, I believe females that were religious head coverings would have complained. Are there groups of females who claim to targeted because of their head coverings?

Boggie Dog

I never said "black females" those are your words not mine. I said ......... "Big Hair" pat downs.........

There have been other complaints, men with turbans for one. I do not think DHS OIG would open an investigation unless there was a strong indication of something going on. I think another centering point to consider is how many times profiling has been called for by some people. Regardless eliminating bias, racial or any other form of bias, from a large organization is truly a difficult task.

gingersnaps

Are you sure?

In regard to the highlighted sentence what do you mean then?





As for DHS opening an investigation, that is specifically about allegations set forth by Andrew Rhoades. There is strong evidence in that case because Rhoades claim he was only to provide names of Samoli individials. That could be discrimination based on National Origin.

To my knowledge, DHS has not opened a case about sister locks.

tmspa

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/pract...e-msp-tsa.html

Boggie Dog

What's your point and in how many threads will you post this same link?