Airport ProfilingShould Be Restricted to Security
Dear Sir,
I read with great interest an article entitled'Airport Security Measures', published in the 19 September 2001issue of another local newspaper. Some of the author's concernswere:
u Whether there is a long-term action plan beingdevised on how to effectively and efficiently improve airportsecurity,
u the unexpected confiscation of personal belongingsof passengers, and
u the long queues that develop as a result of searchingeach passenger and their baggage.
The author's statements are very compassionate. I sympathise withher in that regard. It is hard to strike a balance between airportsecurity, passenger safety and a constant, fast paced level ofservice. Not all customers will be satisfied. The airport andthe airlines can only do their best.
In the wake of the attacks in the United States, long-term plansare taking shape in many international airports, including theCayman Islands. One of the aims of these plans is to establishpreventative measures - adopting policies and procedures thatlead to the early detection of suspicious activity, crimes andother mischief that may take place on an airline or within anairport.
Whether or not the implementation of these strategies result insome inconvenience for users of the airport is not the materialissue. The main concern is safety.
The methods employed by the Cayman Islands airports are reasonable.Some of the objectives appear to be to provide for greater passengersafety, regain the customer's confidence in airlines and to increasethe customer's awareness of risks associated with certain items(which may, in ordinary everyday use seem harmless, but may beadapted for use as weapons in a terrorist or other hostile situation).The security measures are being strengthened.
As I am a mere layman, I am unable to offer any suggestion forthe author's further concern that more staff need to be employedto deal with the offshoots of heightened security measures. Possibly,some one with human resources and/or management experience couldassist in this area.
The author suggests that profiling and rigorous questioning techniquesbe used in identifying wrongdoers. It is useful to note that someArabs are now being profiled on airlines, resulting in some angerand frustration. Place yourself in that situation and ask: Isthis fair, just and reasonable? We must be careful whom we target,for we may be looking at the wrong people, leading to the wrongresults.
For example, and for simplicity, observe the results of racialprofiling by police in some countries and the resulting effects.Do the police catch the 'wrong' people? Or do they put the rightpeople in jail?
Profiling a terrorist is hard. Imagine the difficult job of airportpersonnel. What criteria should they use in deciding who is aterrorist and who is not? They can only use the best methods availableto them in order to tackle the problem. Let us support them (andmaybe stop the profiling of Jamaicans as well).
Alric Lindsay