Security bias (or the perception of such)

[JessicaTam]

There is now

Ok, I guess so.

I arrived at CBR this morning and I was the only pax in the arrivals hall. And three screening points open. So after my bags were screened I did a JT as there was no way of avoiding that little exercise.

 

[VA777]

4 of 4 this week. Two flights on Sunday. Wonder if I'll end the week at 100%

 

[spiredturnip]

I'm in my early 20s and travel in anything from the much derided shorts and t-shirt to a suit and have a pretty frequent hit rate, although its fairly easy to avoid. If they're on the prowl I just dramatically slow down my packing away until they nab someone, then I'll cruise past. If there's nobody around and I can see them getting antsy I'll proactively move over and get it over with while I'm still packing. I worked in the airport in my teens and travel frequently for work now and I've talked to these guys a lot - I think most here are right on the money speculating that they collar those likely to put up the least resistance (aka perceived frequent travellers).

The merits of this from a security POV are of course debatable.

 

[serfty]

To be honest, I used to try to slow down repacking until the dude grabbed someone else.

One of the main reasons for me to stop worrying about the delinting exercise was that overall, I realised I was wasting more time with slow repacking than just getting it over with.

 

[Moopere]

The merits of this from a security POV are of course debatable.

Mmm, yes, I was quickly coming to this myself. Looking over this thread its easy to start to wonder how much value is being added by the process.

 

[JohnK]

I was going through SYD Premium entry yesterday with jacket in tray, laptop in another tray and laptop bag. A lady was also following behind me.

As I got through I pushed all my things closer to the explosives tester and offered my bag to him to start scanning while I was getting ready. He ignored me and pulled over the lady behind me.

Middle aged caucasian with olive skin that doesn't fit the stereotype?

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

Watch the A4 sheet with boxes next time you pass through. Sometimes, they don't make an effort to put those sheets of paper out of the sight of the travelling public!
They (the "guards") have to mark the sheets of paper on the clipboard each time they do a scan.
$$$ to them, ... revenue we all as flyers pay to the airline, each mark means they get their share.
I have had a very rough look at the BNE one, can't make sense of it, while I didn't have to look at it in detail, it seems to be of a grid nature, and they put a mark on it.
JohnK, maybe they needed to mark off the mark, of "it" being done on a lady this time round.

 

[medhead]

They are required to screen a certain number in a given time period. Trust is all that sheet is about. Most people these days have to fill in a time sheet to get their wages. But in this case the security screening fee is paid regardless.

 

[Moody]

I was going through SYD Premium entry yesterday with jacket in tray, laptop in another tray and laptop bag. A lady was also following behind me.

As I got through I pushed all my things closer to the explosives tester and offered my bag to him to start scanning while I was getting ready. He ignored me and pulled over the lady behind me.

Middle aged caucasian with olive skin that doesn't fit the stereotype?

I was travelling through Canberra last week and the lady in front of me had no idea of post x-ray etiquette and was blocking my efforts to get my stuff together, so I stacked the trays up on top of my laptop bag and looked for some clear space. I found some close (but not adjacent) to the secondary screening dude, and wondered if my chutzpah would work in a sort of reverse psychology sense. It didn't.

Basically they choose who they will next test, which is as it should be.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

ADL airport is a small one, and everyone is corralled to go down through the zig zag, (domestic primary security), and there will always be 2 or 3 AFP "agents" too on duty, or are they called officers, (read somewhere they are seconded from the state's police onto AFP for those "special airport duties), ...
So its best not to play it too obvious that your "game" shows.

 

[medhead]

ADL airport is a small one, and everyone is corralled to go down through the zig zag, (domestic primary security), and there will always be 2 or 3 AFP "agents" too on duty, or are they called officers, (read somewhere they are seconded from the state's police onto AFP for those "special airport duties), ...
So its best not to play it too obvious that your "game" shows.

There are rarely AFP officers at the adl security point when I use it. The AFP certainly doesn't do the screening even if they are sometimes standing around nearby.

I also doubt they are seconded from state police as a general rule.