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Activists seek oversight of TSA screeners
SPOT comes under fire from ACLU, CAIR, NAACP and other groups >> LINK
Religious, minority and civil rights activists are asking Homeland Security officials to screen their own airport screeners using video cameras to check whether passengers are being subjected to bias or profiling. "We believe such controls are critical to ensuring that our nation's [screeners] are focused squarely on security threats and not distracted by any personal bias," the organizations said in a letter this week to Kip Hawley, director of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). The letter was signed by several groups including the Sikh Coalition, American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Asian American Justice Center, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Council of La Raza. The activists say recent policy changes give transportation security officers more discretion to pull aside passengers for additional screening that results in "an unchecked ability to engage in racial, religious, ethnic or national origin profiling of air travelers." The policies they cite include the Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques (SPOT) program — which uses behavior to identify high-risk passengers — the discretionary lighter ban and the policy for screening bulky clothing. |
See SPOT.
See SPOT get shot. Die, SPOT, die. |
It would be nice to get some volunteer oversight.. people who sit in the airport and time the attention that screeners give people of various races.
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Originally Posted by whirledtraveler
(Post 9544542)
It would be nice to get some volunteer oversight.. people who sit in the airport and time the attention that screeners give people of various races.
"Why are you here, Comrade? Where are your papers?" |
And so it begins - finally clamor to reign in this agency from groups that matter.
It's not been a good week so far for TSA PR - too bad. |
My girlfriend is American born southern Chinese, and gets secondary screening every time we fly, and we now just assume SSSS. I'd hate to think it is profiling though. She is an attorney, and doesn't have a problem speaking her mind.
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Originally Posted by Spiff
(Post 9544557)
Sadly, such volunteers would receive some unwanted attention of their own. :(
"Why are you here, Comrade? Where are your papers?" |
So we need watchdogs to monitor the security? Reminds me of a David Allen Coe song where "the bikers are staring at the cowboys, who are laughing at the hippies, who are praying they'll get out of here alive." :confused:
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Originally Posted by SMF TSO
(Post 9549057)
If so, the airline is referring you for additional screening and TSA has no say in it.
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Originally Posted by SMF TSO
(Post 9549057)
Is "SSSS" printed on your boarding pass? If so, the airline is referring you for additional screening and TSA has no say in it.
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Originally Posted by SMF TSO
(Post 9549057)
Is "SSSS" printed on your boarding pass? If so, the airline is referring you for additional screening and TSA has no say in it. If the document checker is writing "SSSS" on your boarding pass and you have valid ID, your girlfriend should question them long and loud as to why she's been referred for additional screening.
We usually get the boarding pass from an automated system. I have had the ID check person write on my boarding pass. |
Originally Posted by IslandBased
(Post 9549162)
It is usually during the screening process that she gets secondary screening.
She is an attorney, and doesn't have a problem speaking her mind. |
Originally Posted by Wally Bird
(Post 9549239)
Cause and effect perhaps ? Yackety yack, don't talk back.
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Originally Posted by IslandBased
(Post 9549265)
No, just in the event that she did get really annoyed she would have no problem speaking her mind, usually she just lets them play out their silly games.
And if you're Based on one of the Islands I'm thinking of, then it does not surprise me in the least. |
Originally Posted by Wally Bird
(Post 9549575)
If she's getting consistent secondaries, without alarming the WTMD and without SSSS pre-printed on the BP, then I'd say yes, she is the victim of (racial/ethnic) profiling.
And if you're Based on one of the Islands I'm thinking of, then it does not surprise me in the least. The TSO treatment here is just fine, small number, small community. The problems are at larger airports, my GF has never flown out of my local airport... And I would have to agree on the profiling bit. |
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