If we're going to do this, let's do it right

I guess most of us who travel around by aeroplane can quote similar type experiences as this whilst going through the rigmarole of airport security. Last September at Liverpool airport for instance, I casually enquired of the female security guard that made me remove my shoes “Why are the people in the next line not taking theirs off?”
“The security for that line are not doing the job properly” was her reply! She looked annoyed when I stated that I didn’t find that reassuring in the slightest, bearing in mind that I could be sitting next to someone who hadn’t been properly checked. “Shouldn’t you be telling a supervisor then?” was my next line and she simply turned her back on me. It was only as I collected my belongings from the plastic tray that I realised I had genuinely forgotten to remove my belt and the buckle had failed to activate the metal detector.

A few years ago a mutual friend introduced me to a Deputy Manager of a very large international airport which shall remain nameless for the purposes of this blog. He told me that in his view the philosophy was, ‘if we inconvenience the passenger they will think we’re doing a good job’. I couldn’t agree more. It’s all so hit and miss that it is impossible to do the job properly. We changed planes at Terminal 5, Heathrow. A fellow passenger was made to hand over a small bottle of water given to her on our previous BA flight, yet we’d simply walked through the terminal and had not left the secure part of the building. The security guard was aware of that, yet still wouldn’t allow her through with it. It all helps to frustrate passengers, but achieves absolutely nothing especially now we know a real life terrorist can saunter undetected through Schipol airport with deadly explosive chemicals secreted upon his person.

If we are ever going to deal with this problem properly, we need to urgently get back to the drawing board and re-think our whole policy of airport security. The present one was brought in as a knee jerk reaction post 9-11. We’ve had more than long enough to review it and we need to prioritise what is being sought here. It is to detect and identify those who seek to kill on a devastating level. It is not to alienate those who are travelling for business or pleasure grounds or have simply neglected to put their toothpaste in a clear, secure bag!


nick