Originally Posted by Bart
Dovster,
I'm wondering how practical it would be to apply the same methodology here in the US. Most people can't tell the difference between a 22 year old Palestinian male and a Mexican-American one or even someone of Native American, French and African-American descent who was born and raised in Des Moines.
It is no easier to tell the difference between a 22-year-old Palestinian male and a 22-year-old Jewish Israeli whose parents or grandparents immigrated to Israel from Yemen or North Africa.
I chose this person for my example because he meets the profiling requirements on all three counts: Age, nationality/religion, and gender. A 22-year-old Jewish Israeli (or American) male will also be profiled, albeit from a less suspicious starting point. So will a 22-year-old Dutch woman.
Understand that
everyone is questioned before getting on a flight. I am 59, male, with an obvious American accent but an Israeli passport, an El Al and Arkia frequent flyer, and I will be questioned until Security is satisified that I present no threat. The difference is that they will be satisifed more quickly in my case.
In addition to the profiling elements I mentioned above -- and, indeed, more important then them -- is if something,
anything, seems so far out of the usual as to raise suspicions.
A few years ago a black woman, in her late 40's, tried to board El Al in FCO. Her answers rang all kinds of bells with El Al. She told them that she was an American Air Force officer -- a lieutenant colonel -- on duty at the Navy base in Naples, had credentials showing that she was with NATO Intelligence, and that she had no idea of what she would be doing in Israel apart from staying at the Hotel Adiv in Tel Aviv.
A friend of hers who lives in the Galilee was setting up an itinerary for her, she said.
The story sounded so outlandish that El Al Security called the friend at his home to verify it. I know, but I was the friend.
Originally Posted by Bart
But that's my point, I think it's politically easier to defend a policy that treats everyone the same, even 90 year old grandmothers, as opposed to singling out certain people based on what a screener may determine as fitting a certain profile. That's the nature of our society.
Police may not admit it openly but good ones profile all the time. If a cop spots a man in his 50's hanging around a children's playground, he is apt to start up a "friendly" conversation until he feels comfortable about why the guy is there.
If a black male were to be seen near a predominently white high school, having brief conversations with individual students and then exchanging something with them, the cop would find out if he is selling drugs or merely giving out coupons to a local movie house.
If an Orthodox Jew was seen observing a mosque regularly, the beat copy would find out if he is thinking of converting or has a more sinister motive.
The same would be true of a Moslem near a synagogue.
My UIG (Used Italian Girlfriend) lives in a section of Milan which gets no tourism. Last year, she went into a bank near her home while I waited outside reading an English newspaper. After I was there about 10 minutes, two beat cops (a man-woman team that works together) asked me if they could "help" me. I told them I was waiting for my girlfriend and they continued to chat with me for a few minutes. They moved away a bit but stayed until close she came out of the bank.
Now they know me and we exchange greetings when we meet, but I was unquestionably profiled that first time out.