|
Brits to start profiling
 The Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk. The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.The system would be much more sophisticated than simply picking out young men of Asian appearance. But it would cause What doesn't cause outrage in the moslem community? Officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) believe that it would be more effective at identifying potential terrorists than the existing random searches. They also say that it would greatly reduce queues at security gates, which caused lengthy delays at London airports yesterday for the fifth day running. The DfT has been considering passenger profiling for a year but, until last week, the disadvantages were thought to outweigh the advantages. A senior aviation industry source said: The DfT is ultra-sensitive about this and wont say anything publicly because of political concerns about being accused of racial stereotyping. Three days before last weeks arrests, the highest-ranking Muslim police officer in Britain gave warning that profiling techniques based on physical appearance were already causing anger and mistrust among young Muslims. Tarique Ghaffur, an assistant commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, said: We must think long and hard about the causal factors of anger and resentment. There is a very real danger that the counter-terrorism label is also being used by other law-enforcement agencies to the effect that there is a real risk of criminalising minority communities. Sir Rod Eddington, former chief executive of British Airways, criticised the random nature of security searches. He said that it was irrational to subject a 75-year-old grandmother to the same checks as a 25-year-old man who had just paid for his ticket with cash. Philip Baum, an aviation security consultant, said that profiling should focus on ruling out people who obviously posed no risk rather than picking out Asian or Arabs. A DfT spokesman refused to make any comment or answer any questions on profiling. Posted by: Jackal 2006-08-15 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=162976 |