Hello everyone.
I have an example of both customs and security at Melbourne airport. I am a police officer stationed at a suburban police station, which for those knowing Melbourne is not too far from Tulla. I read these posts as I hold a PPL and am interested in all types of aviation around the world. This will really make you shake your head. But before I go on I must say that most custom workers are people that could not get in to the police and as such have done something along the same lines albeit totally different. Now I am not saying that all customs are d...heads, but that they are there to do a job as best they can. It is true that out of 100 people there are going to be right w...ers, I bet just the same as in your industry, as it is in mine. You sit next to some of these people for 10 hours at a time and at the end of the day can rely on only comms being SOP calls and the like. It is the same for me, but I have to rely on these other people to at the end of the day save my life or at all times back me up without questioning whether he/she likes me or not, so we have a similar duty when working in a team environment.
This little tale still makes me angry when I pass through Mel. While driving the divvy van around, tending to drug addicts, violence etc there was an important job at the airport and it happened to be through the departure area of the international terminal. Not all the details had been passed on to us so we were un-informed to the nature of the job, other than it was quite urgent. Now on driving with the lights and sirens on at high speed and simply driving right up onto the footpath at Tulla and running into the terminal dressed as police with firearms and a blue uniform with the victoria police logo on it you would think that something was up. Well I guess most people would. Not Mel customs and security. I was running at a good pace through the departure hall at Mel and the customs people attempted to intercept me and my partner which was met with anger and a few choice words. On passing those select idiots, we ran through to the security area, where unbelievably I heard some of them say "they can't go through here with guns" and very delicately wanted us to hand over our guns etc. As you can imagine this was also met with such a distaste that it so happened one of the dill security officers ended up on his arse in shock.
My point is this. No matter where you go there will be morons. I spend the vast majority of my existance with them - crooks, not cops. The best thing to do is take a breath and try to relax. Also distance yourself from people that do not do this. People will always want to be pretend police, especially where there is some limited form of power, as in the customs hall. This is not just OZ but worldwide. I have seen it many times. I was once asked to produce my ID at the customs desk to confirm my occupation - which is defenately not required. I showed it and told the half wit at the desk that people like him will never do my job, as they will never be in a position to do yours. A profession is judged by the people in it. It is a shame that pilots etc do this in international terminals and that other people do also, but remember people prove themselves to be idiots as soon as they open thier mouths, so it is probably better to be quiet, I can guarantee you will be out of the arrivals hall sooner rather that later.
