Re Roger James forwarding USA Today's report of inappropriate security searches. Why this search? How many hidden bombs in bras have downed an aircraft? ----- Original Message ----- From: Roger James <ejames@escape.ca> To: <AIRLINE@LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU> Sent: Friday, December 14, 2001 9:59 AM Subject: Passengers uneasy with pat-downs > Passengers uneasy with pat-downs > By Kitty Bean Yancey, USA TODAY > > It's touch and go at the airport now. Just ask everyday travelers pulled=20 > out of line at security checkpoints in these days of ratcheted-up scrutiny= > =20 > and random searches. Pittsburgh grandmother Marguerite Petito was "totally= > =20 > embarrassed" recently in Chicago when a wand beeped, "and the lady asked if= > =20 > it was OK for her to feel my breasts to make sure I was not hiding=20 > anything," she recalls. "This she did in front of all these men that were=20 > in line. ... I thought, 'Here I am getting felt up in the middle of O'Hare= > =20 > airport!' " The suspicious metal turned out to be the underwire of her bra.= > =20 > Thursday, a passenger at Boston's Logan airport refused a screening and=20 > bolted after her bra set off a metal detector. She was let go after being=20 > questioned by police. Their close encounters are not isolated ones. With=20 > more wands waving at airports than in any Harry Potter tale, running the=20 > gantlet of newly toughened screenings can mean allowing the liberties=20 > generally accorded only to a date, mate or doctor. > > Federal Aviation Administration chief Jane Garvey concedes that some=20 > security measures "may seem time-consuming and intrusive, but the reality=20 > is they are absolutely necessary to keep you and your fellow passengers= > safe." > "If you were a terrorist, would there be any areas off limits on your body= > =20 > for hiding anything?" says Dan Boelsche, former security operations manager= > =20 > at Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Screeners have to= > =20 > view every passenger as a potential threat, regardless of appearance, he=20 > adds. And though most travelers support stricter checks, patting and=20 > groping are going too far, some say: > > =B7 "I've had men (at checkpoints) cup my breasts and feel between my= > =20 > legs, almost all the way up," says Shirley Gansser of Columbus, Ohio, a=20 > consulting firm project manager. Security staffers also have waved her=20 > underwear in the air during bag searches, she says. Now she dreads going to= > =20 > airports. > =B7 "There are a lot of travelers who feel they have had more hands up= > =20 > their clothes than a Punch and Judy puppet," says travel agency president=20 > Ken Sause of Wallingford, Conn. At the Miami airport, he says, he had to=20 > drop his trousers "to the top of the butt" in public so a guard could feel= > =20 > for contraband. "One can get arrested for the same accosting if it happened= > =20 > in the men's room." > =B7 "The full-body searches have gotten more intense since Sept. 11,"= > =20 > agrees Polly Sheffield of Crestview, Fla., who has had much experience with= > =20 > such procedures, because she has artificial hips that contain metal parts.= > =20 > She recalls a female guard doing "more feeling than patting" on Nov. 25. "I= > =20 > thought it was uncalled for." > Even flight crews are grousing about the scope and conduct of searches. The= > =20 > Association of Flight Attendants recently sent a letter of complaint to=20 > Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta, who has yet to respond. > > 'Keep your arms up' > Flight attendant Sylvia Paisley-Gee tells of being "given a pat-down that=20 > was more than a pat-down. Her hands lingered on my breasts. I was in=20 > uniform. I tried to make light about it and told her, 'Oh, they're real.'=20 > She just said, 'keep your arms up.' " Gee was standing where passengers she= > =20 > would later serve could see her. "It felt like a strip show." Encounters=20 > with screeners can vary. Some are polite, says Agnes Huff of Los Angeles.=20 > "Others just grope their way in abrupt fashion." "It depends what power=20 > trip they're on," adds Gansser, who flies four to six times a week. "Some=20 > of these people have maybe not had a lot of authority before. All of a=20 > sudden they have this authority and abuse it," says Gansser's husband, Eli= > =20 > Navarrete. He thinks security staffers also are reacting to criticism that= > =20 > airport security is too lax and to the upcoming federalization of airport=20 > security employees. "They feel they have to justify their job." "There are= > =20 > good people out there and there are also people for whom (giving a=20 > pat-down) is the thrill of their lives," adds frequent flier Helen Broder=20 > of Manhattan. > > She also takes to task fellow passengers, some of whom exhibit behavior=20 > more suited to a stag party. As Broder was being wanded up and down, "I got= > =20 > a lot of smirks from the men behind me in line. They were enjoying it.=20 > There was this frat-boy mentality." When business traveler Karen Connolly=20 > of Birmingham, Mich., was ordered to remove her coat, then her suit jacket= > =20 > before passing through a metal detector, "the man behind me in line said,=20 > 'Have her take off her pants, too!' " He was not reprimanded. Navarrete,=20 > who is of Philippine descent, gets a different reaction from fellow=20 > travelers while being frisked in the open. "I'm not white," he says. "If=20 > you're being patted down, they give you a look like, 'I hope they caught=20 > you.' It's not comfortable." While travelers understand the need for body=20 > searches, few know what the parameters are supposed to be. "We can't=20 > discuss specific procedures" because of security reasons, says FAA=20 > spokeswoman Alison Duquette. Executives at a half-dozen firms that provide= > =20 > airport security did not return calls seeking information. But Boelsche,=20 > who until February worked for industry giant Argenbright Security and=20 > supervised about 250 screeners at Washington Dulles International Airport,= > =20 > sheds light on procedures. Wanding means outlining the body, "front, back=20 > and between the legs," he says. While wands can work without contact,=20 > "there's going to be an occasional touch" during a quick whisking. "But=20 > there should not be rubbing or poking." > As for pat-downs, touching breasts or near the genitals is called for "if=20 > (a screener) can't resolve a beeping metal detector," Boelsche says. "An=20 > experienced screener pats with the back of the hands, which seems to be=20 > less upsetting to the passengers. Passengers are less likely to interpret=20 > it as groping." > > A private screening > Air travelers do have rights, Duquette adds. "If they're uncomfortable for= > =20 > any reason, they can request a private screening with a same-sex screener."= > =20 > That doesn't always work in practice. Passengers say curtained-off areas or= > =20 > same-sex screeners sometimes aren't available. After repeated "demeaning"=20 > once-overs by the same set of male security guards at her home airport in=20 > Columbus, Gansser said, "No more! I insisted on having a woman do it in a=20 > private room, with rubber gloves." She stood her ground and got her way.=20 > Julie Washington of Ann Arbor, Mich., dared to demur after being told to=20 > "pull my shirt up" when a wand chirped. The female screener "looked shocked= > =20 > and said, 'Are you refusing?' I said, 'Yes, but you can touch it. It's just= > =20 > the clasp on my bra.' She touched it, and that was the end of it." Rare,=20 > however, is the flier who dares to challenge those with the power to keep=20 > her or him off a flight. Sheffield thought about lodging a complaint, "but= > =20 > I didn't, figuring I might end up (being searched extensively) in another=20 > room." Petito didn't make waves about her impromptu chest exam, because she= > =20 > wanted to join her husband on the other side of the security checkpoint and= > =20 > make sure they got on a plane to Germany. > > Others also want to get the touching over quickly, so they can keep an eye= > =20 > on their purses or computers, which typically sit unattended on the metal=20 > detector's conveyor belt during the search. Screeners are generally not=20 > allowed to be quoted in the media, but some say privately that they are=20 > uncomfortable touching strangers and hate going through personal belongings. > Whether a passenger emerges from a search feeling violated or respected=20 > depends on the screener's skill, says Billie Vincent, former FAA security=20 > director who now runs Aerospace Services International, a Chantilly,=20 > Va.-based consulting firm. Vincent thinks "the nuances are in the training= > =20 > of the individual," and that means more than learning how to find concealed= > =20 > weapons. "Diplomacy and the ability to make a person feel good about the=20 > search are important," he says, and "it is the area that has been mostly=20 > neglected" in the USA. Under the new airport security bill, signed Nov. 19= > =20 > by President Bush and due to take effect by the end of next year, screeners= > =20 > will be federal employees required to have a minimum of 40 hours of=20 > classroom training instead of the current 12. Vincent thinks even more=20 > would be better. "We need academies to train these people." > > Screeners also tend to be low paid and the turnover rate is high. Still,=20 > Boelsche believes "very few of them get jollies" on the job. "They know=20 > that if they go beyond certain boundaries, they're going to find out how=20 > much power they don't have." And Vincent has an answer for fliers who say=20 > it is ridiculous to spend so much time patting down the seemingly=20 > innocuous, such as grandmothers, pregnant women and children. "Pregnant=20 > women have been used" in air terrorism attempts, he says. "Handguns have=20 > been placed in kids' toys. The bra has been used. I once had a foreign=20 > security service tell me they found a device secured in a sanitary napkin."= > =20 > Frequent flier Dan Elam of Richmond, Va., thinks the frisks he has=20 > undergone have been "conservative enough that they have made me question=20 > whether terrorism would actually be prevented." He and others would like to= > =20 > see more high-tech, less physically invasive screening, such as scanners=20 > now used by U.S. Customs personnel to detect drug smugglers. They reveal=20 > items concealed under clothing. "We could use better technology to do=20 > things electronically that now have to be done physically. It's a lot less= > =20 > intrusive," says David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers=20 > Association, which represents passengers' interests. He says some, though,= > =20 > argue that travelers might be affronted to have their bodies shown in=20 > detailed silhouette on a screen. Meanwhile, many defend the hands-on= > approach. > > 'Get used to it' > "How can we complain about a search becoming 'too personal'?" asks Sean Roy= > =20 > of West Hollywood. "Terrorists will do whatever it takes to hide their=20 > instruments of destruction. Full body searches aren't being done as a=20 > sexual thing. This is a security issue, and people will need to get used to= > =20 > it." Bob Baccus of Huntsville, Ala., is "thankful" for security checks.=20 > He's the father of a flight attendant who has been forced to take an=20 > involuntary leave from the job she loves. If more people felt it was safe=20 > to fly, Baccus believes, "maybe my daughter could get her job back." John=20 > Bryant of Tucson wears a metal knee brace that always sets off airport=20 > sensors. He has had "hands inside my waistline and elsewhere," but agrees=20 > that's the price of ensuring air safety. "I'm willing to pull my pants=20 > down, too," he says, "if it can be done in private and I've had a chance to= > =20 > follow everyone's mother's adage about wearing clean underwear." > > > > The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: > Roj (Roger James) > > *************************************************** > Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com > ICQ: ICQ # 15836110 > ICQ Pager: mailto:15836110@pager.icq.com > escape email #!1 mailto:ejames@escape.ca > yahoo email #2: mailto:triniroj@yahoo.com > Yahoo Pager: triniroj > Caribbean Brass & Soca Connection Group on Yahoo: > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/caribsocabrass > Caribbean Brass & Soca Connection Club Website > http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeansocabrassconnection/ > ******************************************************* > Steel Expressions Orch > http://www.escape.ca/~ejames/se/ > email #1: mailto:steelexpressions@yahoo.com > email #2: mailto:steelexpressions@home.com > ******************************************************* > The Trinbago Site of the Week: > (Cable Company of TnT) http://frostbytei.com/clients/cctt/ > (The Cable Company of Trinidad & Tobago) > courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory > Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com > TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt > ********************************************************* >