TSA Program Contributes to Racial Profiling, ACLU Finds
Jennifer Billock February 09, 2017
A Transportation Security Administration program is likely to contribute to racial profiling, a recent study found.
A new study released by the American Civil Liberties Union dove deep into internal documents at the Transportation Security Administration to determine whether a controversial screening program increases racial profiling. The study was conducted as part of a lawsuit between the ACLU and TSA.
The program, called Spot for Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques, trains plainclothes TSA agents to locate signs of deception and allows them to conduct additional interviews after travelers have passed through security checkpoints. The ACLU’s study unearthed substantial racial profiling as a result of this program, particularly focusing on Latinos, Arabs, and Muslims, and also notes that the program itself is founded on dubious science.
“Because the techniques that the TSA are using are not grounded in valid science, those techniques raise an unacceptable risk of racial and religious profiling,” Hugh Handeyside, one of the ACLU attorneys in the lawsuit, told The Guardian. “The documents show the use of those techniques become a license to harass. They can easily give way to implicit or explicit bias.”
The study showed that racial profiling was in encouraged as part of Spot in Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) and Logan International Airport (BOS) in Boston, and also at airports in Chicago, Miami, and Honolulu. Some airport behavioral-detection officers (BDO) corroborated that in the study.
“I’ve seen BDO managers lie to cover up their mistakes […] [and] make questionable decisions based on the way someone looks, ie cute, Asian, Black, etc,” one said. “What’s worse is I’ve heard a BDO manager refer to passengers as ‘towel heads’ when speaking in a meeting with other management AND subordinates.”
[Photo: Shutterstock]
