anyong notice how obtuse 'rent a cop' is getting at EIDW.
Yes, and surprise surprise, they failed the audit last weekend, comprehensively and very visibly, so the knee jerk reaction has been to be even slower, which has meant passengers that arrived with more than the airline's minimum time before departure then missed their flights because of the delays at security.
Security needs to be visible to be effective. That doesn't mean oppresive, unpleasant, aggressive, rude, gratuitously offensive and all the other things that have been commented on here.
It's no wonder that air rage is becoming a bigger issue. People now have to arrive at departure -3 to be sure of getting through the system, the entire terminal area is non smoking, there's more than a little hassle getting through the system and to the aircraft, then they're trapped in the tube for up to 11 hours. 14 hours without nicotine for some people is hell on earth.