FlyerTalk Forums - View Single Post - TSA's bomb-sniffing dogs
View Single Post
Old Jun 21, 2016, 1:02 pm
  #198  
Section 107
 
Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: WAS
Programs: enjoyed being warm spit for a few years on CO/UA but now nothing :(
Posts: 2,512
Originally Posted by chollie
I still fail to see how keeping accurate measurements is a bad thing.

I thought I made it clear (as if it needed to be made clear) in my post that I am not talking about something as basic as comparing which process generated the most 'false alerts' - or the most real 'catches'. Money, time, practicality (we're not putting full-time dog teams in every single airport) and predominately useful and accurate results have to be factored in - as does TSA's uncanny ability to muck up almost everything they touch.

Remember how many times we were assured that properly used, the NoS's would be almost as fast but much more reliable than the WTMD? No mention of the cumulative delays and staffing impacts from the constant ridiculous false positives that TSA decided require a dedicated staffer to resolve using clever techniques like stroking a bald man's head or arm because it alarmed.

It's entirely possible that neither approach is the single best solution; it may be that both are so flawed that it's time to start looking for a different solution. Without actual data, we have no way of knowing.
I didn't say measuring their effectiveness is a bad thing. I quite agree with you that tracking and evaluating performance of both are necessary.

But determining that one is simply "better" than the other based on a single measure is not really fair because they are so drastically different.
Section 107 is offline