Wednesday, November 24, 2010

If it saves just one life

I'm going to preface this by saying that YES, I am quite aware that Canada does not have exactly the same thing, and that I'm aware the Fourth Amendment doesn't apply in Canada.

Still, the concept is the same, and that concept is that at some point people should use common sense when they are doing their job.

Does it make sense that security personnel in airports throughout the "free" West force random people to endure ever more difficult or intrusive procedures simply because someone has been able to sneak a dangerous substance on the plane?

To that end, I have three suggestions that the government might consider:

1.     Do as Tom suggests in his comments section - have a little explosive detonation chamber that EVERYONE walks through one at a time before they board a plane.  Between that and a metal detector, that should be all the security you need to prevent a mad man from blowing up a plane.

2.     Everybody fly naked.  I know, I know - whacky thought, and not necessarily an appealing one if you are flying with a bunch of people you don't want to see naked, but if you do this, then the only thing you will get on board the aircraft will have to be hidden in an uncomfortable place, and if it's a bomb, it likely won't be big enough to do much damage.

3.     Profile - NOT RACIALLY.  Match the profile of a terrorist against the passengers and see what jumps out.  Person flying alone? One way? Paying cash for their ticket? Acting extremely nervous or extremely calm at the airport? AND buying their ticket last minute?  Please step out of line.  It's as simple as that.  This person could be any race, any color, any country of origin (ESPECIALLY the last part with the "rise" of home grown terrorism).  So profile them based on what they did and how they're acting.  How hard is that?

In the end, every new "security" measure is designed to inconvenience each passenger more and more, and in that respect, terrorists have already won.  The only way to stop that is to peel the layers back and get back to doing what makes sense again.

Because if it saves just one life....

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