Originally Posted by
joemcool
All I have to say here is that its easy for "behavioral considerations" to become racial profiling (For some people, an Arab in an Airport will always be suspicious). As long as the system includes elements based on a person's intuition, that person's prejudices will inform their evaluation of passengers. I'm not saying that TSOs are more racist than you or I, simply that "Everyone's a Little Bit Racist"
I am going to use your quote to off which to bounce.
Immediately after 9/11, I did indeed find every Arab in an Airport (AIAA) to be suspicious. One event and a series of observations changed that.
When we were still doing gate searches the first time, a mid-20's Middle Eastern male was waiting in the area where I was. Every time he would sit down people around him would move. If he left and came back the same thing would happen. He went to the security people that were everywhere at that time and asked to be selected for the search. They said he did not have to do that, He remarked that his fellow passengers needed the assurance that he he had been checked. Mark that as my first data point.
As time went on, I started my own SPOT program. Oh, I was not looking for bad guys, I was just the type to sit down and start a conversation about nothing. It may be the computer they were using, their luggage, where they were going, whatever. I do not do this as much since my hearing has gone to pot, but I did then.
I found foreigners, particularly Eastern Europeans and Middle Eastern people to be some of the most interesting and informed people to which I talked. Almost all were engaging and returned conversation intelligently and politely. Almost none were rude. Almost all had interesting and challenging jobs.
So, my limited SPOT program taught me this: Suspicious looking people based on some stereotypical visual indication was always false. None of the flights on which I traveled with these folks was in any danger at any time.
Extrapolate that to the macro. Millions of people have passed through security checkpoints in the ensuing years. A large percentage of those are of the aforementioned stereotypical class. Yet, the only attacks occurred by two non-stereotypical looking passengers. There may come a time when that pattern will be broken, but for now, the attacks on airplanes by a group of people overcoming the crew are minimal or ended. There is little need to search for what is not there.
Do I still notice when these people are on my flight? I must confess that I do. Then I immediately tell myself, "Silly me, that was a stupid thought," and go back to whatever I was doing.