Well, duh: UK considers (GASP!) racial, ethnic profiling

Posted on August 15, 2006

THE Government is discussing with airport operators plans to introduce a screening system that allows security staff to focus on those passengers who pose the greatest risk.

The passenger-profiling technique involves selecting people who are behaving suspiciously, have an unusual travel pattern or, most controversially, have a certain ethnic or religious background.

Who can argue with this?

The system would be much more sophisticated than simply picking out young men of Asian appearance. But it would cause outrage in the Muslim community because its members would be far more likely to be selected for extra checks.

Officials at the Department for Transport (DfT) have discussed the practicalities of introducing such a system with airport operators, including BAA. They believe that it would be more effective at identifying potential terrorists than the existing random searches.

I guess the Brits haven’t heard the squeals that “profiling just doesn’t work.” Why would this cause “outrage in the Muslim community?” Haven’t we been told (like in the movie Sum of All Fears, on the Discovery Times Channel every weekend and in American airports) that everyone is equally likely to be a terrorist, except Al Gore, who’s twice as likely to be a martyr for the prophet?

I can’t figure out for the life of me how the “stereotype” of Mulsim males between the ages of 17-40 would have been developed…

The DfT has been considering passenger profiling for a year but, until last week, the disadvantages were thought to outweigh the advantages.

I’d like to get a look at that scale. I guess Calista Flockhart outweighs Ted Washington.

Bottom line — to NOT use racial/ethinic profiling as an ELEMENT of assessing terror threats is criminal negligence by the agencies charged to keep us safe…except of course if they’d like to emply this common sense method, but have been thwarted from doing so because certain groups who have no interest beyond their own dark agenda have created an environment where law enforcement and intelligence agencies are neutered and hog-tied.

Update you knew was coming: Top Muslim policeman slams UK “terror profile” plan