Originally Posted by
kire
Just got back from a two week business trip in India, I visited Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai. I have to say the security theatre that goes on in India is much worse than what goes on in the US. Here are some things that I saw.
1. When you enter your hotel you have to go through a WTMD and get wanded. They also go through your bags. The first issue is that if everyone is going to get wanded why bother having a WTMD. Secondly they don't do anything to resolve any of the positive readings from the WTMD or the wand.
2. The same WTMD, wand as well as a frisk is performed when you to a shopping mall. Again nothing is done to resolve any of the positive readings.
3. Any vehicle approaching the hotel is stopped and checked by security guards. They open the bonnet and the boot and check inside. They look under the vehicle also. This all seems reasonable looking for a car bomb, but then they come in the vehicle and open the glove box. What reason would there be to open up the glove box?
4. At the airport I've pulled the laptop out of its bag and put the laptop, rollaboard, laptop bag and my jacket on the belt. Walk through the WTMD and then get wanded and frisked (everyone gets the full treatment). The security people grab my laptop bag and put it to one side. They've confiscated it because there is no tag on it. I'm made to go out through security back to the check in counter and get a tag for the laptop bag then come all the way back through security again to give them a tag to put on my laptop bag before they'll give it to me.
I hope the US doesn't get as stupid as India currently is.
As usual, Egypt can easily top any horror story from anywhere else. There are WTMD at nearly every tourist attraction in Egypt, put there as "anti-terrorist" measures. Usually, the guys who staff these checkpoints barely pay attention to people walking through, even though most of them are alarming the detector.
Entering a park in Cairo, I was admonished by a security guard for trying to enter without passing through his WTMD. I dutifully walked through, and although having lots of metal on me, I did not alarm. As he was thanking me, I looked down and noticed that the power cord for the WTMD was just dangling there, not connected to anything. But this guy wasn't going to give up his comfy government salary, working as "security" guard just because of something as silly as that.