Airport security a 'con game'

Passengers undergo stringent measures at airports but experts report `gaping security holes' behind the scenes

Jan 14, 2008 04:30 AM
Sandro Contenta
Staff Reporter

Restricted areas at Pearson International Airport, where thousands of employees work and load scores of planes daily, are less secure than those used by passengers, says Peel police Supt. Ed Toye, the airport's top cop.

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/293749

Another quote:

But security at Pearson came under scrutiny again last week when a 20-year-old man ran past a checkpoint at Terminal 1 and boarded an Air Canada plane. The unarmed man was eventually arrested.

While that incident renewed the focus on passenger screening, security analysts and police say the real security gap at Pearson and most airports worldwide is behind the scenes. Since the 9/11 attacks on the U.S., governments have instead stressed tougher screening of passengers to create a public perception of security, analysts argue.

"It's a smoke and mirrors trick," says Alicia Wanless, executive director of Toronto's International Perspectives security think-tank.

edited: Thanks to the moderator for providing the correct airport code in the thread title for a guy who should have known better!

I'll give the Cannucks one here: they at least CAUGHT the guy after he ran past security. That's something TSA has NEVER done.

Additionally, there's no indication that they dumped the terminal after the incident. Again, TSA would have dumped the terminal.

amen to giving credit to the canadian airport security folks ^ and isn't it odd that it only seems to be the tsa, who after a terminal evacuation and "thorough search" <yeah right>, have never been able to locate a person who entered the secure area of the passenger terminal thru the exit.

giving a standing o' to the tsa for finding yet another way to screw up a free lunch.

What strikes me as interesting (and this was the Page 1 headline in Canada's largest-circulation paper this morning) is the "top cop's" candid statement about the so-called restricted areas, which along with the inadequacies in screening cargo is discussed quite often in this forum and elsewhere.

Any chance Supt. Ed Toye posts here?

Just some more whiners.

And considering that CATSA largely copies TSA, it stands to reason that we have the same flaws here in the US, but on a larger scales as we process more pax and have more airports.

YYZ security IS a joke and has been for ages...and I did a few co-ops at this airport so I know...

a few of my experiences when I worked there...all done out of necessity because it took too long to get a real badge.

1) I wore the wrong color coded badge for the sterile area I was in - no one stopped me...for weeks at a time
2) for months, I wore someone elses' badge! Not just anyone's - but a 30something pregnant female's badge. Never stopped me and they saw both the name and photo on many occasions when I walked by, including one RCMP cop who was staring right at it when she brought me a ticket that someone dropped on the floor
3) being advised by a 'security auditor' i could not access the ramp without an escort, then doing so anyway because they had no teeth or didn't care
4) using a temporary badge long after it's expiration

Now granted, security was a bit less 'hyper' back then, but...

Now fast-forward - as a passenger I've smuggled enough liquids through the checkpoint to sink the Titanic, and my usually response to the gate screeners is just walk past them and keep going when they try and grab me - after a few muted 'sir, excuse me sir', they just forget me and grab the next hapless victim.

Apparently they are also under the impression shoe bombers only target US-bound flights

I think they are under the impression that the only people who might remotely care about liquids will be found at the termination point of a US-bound flight.

Our friends to the North full well understand that the US is caught up in a (hopefully) temporary madness and try to not take it out on individual travelers.