Airslide
You and an earlier contributor beat me to it - The chance for the lesser paid/educated to show their 'authority'. Give someone three bucks an hour and tell them they are in charge of the nation's security and watch when the smart uniforms with lots of gold/silver turn up.
My own most ridiculous story - Doing military charters, sometimes we carry a courier. Going through security, the man handfs over his sidearm to security staff. Passes through arch, bell goes off, side arm is returned and frisk is carried out. A nail file is taken from courier. We all stand around in amazement squared. Moral of story - guns are OK, but it is not done to have manicured nails. Of course this was in land of George Dubaya, leader of ......