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Can profiling help fight terror? |
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Not everyone should be forensically searched |
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By Thomas Terrio |
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In this country, as in many others, doing what is politically correct most of the time comes before common sense. In Canada, Section 15(1) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms guarantees no individual should be discriminated against based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or mental or physical disability. However, Section 15(2) precludes any law program or activity that assists in the improvement of those said individuals such as the policies of Affirmative Action, better known in Canada as Employment Equity. In other words, minorities or those said individuals above, have certain advantages because of their origins in our society. But it has become obvious lately, the equality rights we respect so much can be a serious disadvantage when standing in an airport security-screening line-up to check-in your carry-on luggage. Why is every single individual being forensically searched at every security-screening terminal when it is quite obvious, some, if not all, are no threat to anyone? The process is frustrating, time consuming, futile, and in the end, will subject the airline industry to severe loss in the near future. After almost ten years of extra security charges, the re-education of security personnel, the updating of scanning equipment and the creation of no-fly lists, airport security is not much farther ahead then it was on September 12, 2001. Could the key to reducing line-ups and long waits at airports simply be the implementation of a profiling system? If instituted, profiling should not only be applied at entry points in and out of the country, but at the level of corporate hiring as well. Let me explain why. In 1997, I worked as a career adviser at a prominent private college in Metro Vancouver. One day, a young man from the Middle East walked-in to the college for an interview about our six-month flight attendant certificate program. He was not my prospective student, but I thought it odd at the time why such a short skinny individual, whose English was very poor, would be interested in working as a flight attendant? After September 11, 2001, it became very clear to me why such people would be interested in gaining easy access to a major airliner. Terrorist groups are seeking-out and setting in place, radicalizing and recruiting, individuals like these to commit horrific acts of terror. Individuals like Adam Khatib the “liquid bomber” and Abdul Raheem, better known as Richard Reid the “Shoe bomber.” People like Nidal Malik Hasan, the military psychiatrist who was responsible for the mass shooting at Fort Hood , and of course the Detroit Christmas bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Profiling is an excellent way to add a new layer to a security process which is obviously flawed without it, because one successful terrorist act—is one too many. Because of a few individuals who could easily be taken aside based on the evidence at hand, such as their country of origin, name or religion, thousands of innocent people, which include the elderly, women with children, and the handicapped, are being subjected to great inconveniences and long wait periods. Some common sense needs to be applied here, because if it isn’t, we may all soon find ourselves forced to bring a pair of underwear to the airport for a security check first, before we are allowed to wear them onto the plane. |
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To my knowledge, the Department of Homeland Security has focused on detection devices that are large, expensive, use a large amount of energy, and cannot easily be placed in or on a shipping container. |
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An overstretched military undermines homeland security and our ability to meet threats around the world. |
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Afterthoughts |
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Page design by Thomas Terrio www.viewfromthewest.ca ©2010 All rights reserved |
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View from the West |
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Edition no. 62 January 2010 |
