part of my says "makes sense"; part of me says "it just gets more '1984' every day"

[winterbadger]

from the TSA Webpage

Behavior Detection Officers

TSA has deployed hundreds of specially-trained officers around the country skilled in detecting individuals exhibiting unusual behavior.

This highly mobile force works in all areas of airports, train stations, ports and any number of places with no notice. These behavior experts require no additional equipment and often work in plain clothes.

Comments

[ticktockmary.livejournal.com]

Hmm, makes me want to go to Union Station and start twitching nervously.

(actually, this wouldn't be very odd behavior for Union Station, or many other train stations I've been to, come to think of it)

specially-trained?????

[mikecosgrave.livejournal.com]

Didn't this used to be the job of the local cop on the beat?

Re: specially-trained?????

[winterbadger]

A cop on the what? :-)

I did hear an article on the news this morning saying that police officers in some areas of the US are being encouraged to stop and get out of their cars and talk to citizens for at least five minutes an hour AS A FUEL ECONOMY MEASURE! The police chief interviewed said (paraphrasing) that it was a nod to the old days when police walked a beat.

My question has always been--why did we stop doing that? I suppose people prefer to pay fewer local taxes and be less safe, but I know that a lot of the petty crime problems we have in my town would be less if there were more foot (or at least bike) patrol officers. Mostly because the local police tried a pilot foot patrol program in one area recently and did lots of "business", including 20 incident reports, 11 traffic warnings, 4 citations, 5 interviews, and 5 arrests, all in just five hours of foot patrol by four officers.

[wcg.livejournal.com]

You know this means some people are going to start doing odd things in train stations and port areas just to screw with these peoples' minds, right?

[winterbadger]

I certainly hope not, for their sakes. I've yet to meet anyone from TSA who has the least sense of humour about their job

[wcg.livejournal.com]

I've known too many young men to imagine somebody won't think it's great fun.

[winterbadger]

Well, I hope that whoever decides to do stuff like that does it to one of those young men. Even the TSA security officers I've met who were good natured and liked a joke didn't think anything about the work they do was remotely funny.

[gr-c17.livejournal.com]

At least you won't have x-rated pics of yourself floating around afterwords.

[winterbadger]

Eh?

[luscious-purple.livejournal.com]

I think he means the terahertz imaging detectors that are starting to go into use. They see through your clothes and show off your butt crack, etc.

[gr-c17.livejournal.com]

Where have you been? TSA is using a scanner that takes an image of your body with enough detail to clearly make out you genitaila. Ohhh, the operator "never" sees you, and the pics are "never" kept.

TSA own site

[winterbadger]

Where have I been? The same places as most, I imagine...

[blueingenue.livejournal.com]

My immediate impression is that this is a tool developed as an alternative to other forms of profiling. Law enforcement started emphasizing behavior profiling some time ago, because they needed to be able to articulate suspicion based on a person's actions rather than their appearance. It's probably better to have staff that are trained at it than just winging it.