Originally Posted by
average_passenger
Well, I don't mean to cause any problems but it seems the scanners don't have a very good success rate either. They depend on the skills of the person in the viewing room. There have been stories of people sneaking guns past the scanners in testing done by the tsa themselves. Also, many passengers have false anomolies detected and need a pat-down afterward. Dogs are hard working animals that are loyal, bright, they don't complain, and they don't seem to be as mean as some (not all) tso's.
There is no such thing as 100% security anywhere in the world. Even if you stay home and do nothing, there could be a natural disaster and you could die.
100% correct. There have been items missed. AIT is a new technology to the TSA as well as the passengers, and the learning curve is pretty steep. Once again we are being asked to identify anomalies on a varying platform (humans) using 2 dimensional black and white imagery, that is no-where near “High-Def”. I don’t work with the systems personally, but I have seen some of the training materials. And to add another dimension to the equation, TSO’s are not allowed to communicate to the searching officer what the item may be, only a generic area of the body that may contain it. The communication between the two officers is severely restricted, and monitored by supervisory and management level personnel.
AIT is not a perfect technology (much as I might like it to be), it can only give us indications that there is something that needs a closer look. And that’s all that dogs can do, give us indications that a closer look needs to be made. Humans are still going to have to do the looking, and that means folks with the same job I have no matter the technology telling us.
There is no perfect technology. Sorry, that is a pretty obvious fact. One other pretty obvious fact is that the AIT does not bite or poop on the floor. Each has its faults, just as each has its advantages. The TSA uses both technologies, each in its most appropriate place.