Originally Posted by
FLIPSIDEUP
As a semi retired senior manager of a very large US company working within security, I can vouch for the fact that most of our security people (like aircrew) are neither educationally nor intellectually challenged.
Interesting comment, but equally interesting is the BAA application form for security personnel at their UK airports. [URL="http://www.heathrowairport.com[/URL] Look under 'Careers' and 'Search Our Jobs', putting 'Security' into the search field. Under the heading:
Qualifications and Experience you will find the following:
Qualifications:
None. Full training in accordance with DfT and BAA guidelines will be given.
So the fact is that to become a security guard at a BAA airport you don't require any qualifications from our (or any other nation's) education system.
I am making no judgement here, just offering some FACTS.
The reason why aircrew should be subject to security is to ensure they are who they are claiming to be going airside. It is all about risk assessment. If we are deemed an acceptable risk to be employable flying aeroplanes then we should be deemed acceptable enough to carry a Lipsyl or some toothpaste. And don't start about the carrying of an illegal substance airside whilst our family is being held hostage, because your family will be dead if you do or if you don't so why would I NOT contact the authorities?
Problem is that many airport security personnel DO NOT check my ID correctly, therefore they have no idea who I am. At one staff checkpoint that I use regularly there is a 'grill' in the glass to allow your voice to be heard. It is right in between the eyeline of the person being checked and the security person. I have handed my ID, had it 'checked' and handed back on numerous occassions without them being able to see my face. They have made no attempt to move or get me to move to see me.
I go to many airports that are not my base and it appears that the security staff have little if any idea what my pass represents. I have had them try to take my pass out of the holder and try to swipe it through their scanner, when it clearly is not an ID from their airport/ group and will therefore not swipe. They then turn to me as though I have a problem and ask why it won't swipe!
It has often been clear to me that they have not checked my ID properly. At one airport recently I could see the person did not recognise the pass. They looked at it in a blank sort of way and said nervously 'that's fine'. I then covered it up and asked what aiport it came from. The person was dumbfounded and obviously didn't have a clue.
This is where the threat lies of someone getting airside with an illegal substance and the DfT could do a lot to make the system better by having UK IDs that all aiports in the UK can recognise/ swipe, biometric data that will help to verify who the holder is and training EFFECTIVE security personnel, and possibly reviewing their recruitment process.
I accept that foreign crews may have to subjected to greater scrutiny as they will not be part of that system, and equally accept that when abroad I will be subjected to their local regulations and checks.
This and other 'weaknesses' are where the RISK needs to be reduced, not pilots carrying toothpaste.
The fire-axe has been mentioned a number of times and rightly so, but it is simpler than that; I just wait for my colleague to go to take a leak and then I have uninterrupted control, no toothpaste, gel, lotion, potion, liquid, timer, detonator, mobile phone or Lipsyl required.
We live with RISK and it is down to the powers that be to reduce that risk to an acceptable level. At the moment they have gone over the top and it is NOT reducing the risk effectively in all areas, only making people's jobs harder and more frustrating, which, as has been pointed out is a safety risk increase in itself.
PP