As a Security officer ("nob") as we seem to be referred to quite a lot on this thread, may I please justify what we do with the simple words..."We operate in the UK under the rules that the Dept for Transport set out".
I was also a serving Merseyside police officer until retirement from the force and to be quite frank (as has already been pointed out on this thread), what this officer did regarding the warrant card incident was disgraceful if not embarrassing even though she was right regarding the perfume. There are, as many of you will probably know, certain procedures to be used by police employed at airports..... normal police officers cannot just walk through as they please....The airport chief exec does not just walk through as he pleases, neither do Chief Constables.
I take your point regarding abusive security staff who act way above what they were trained to do and indeed operate as though they have the absolute right to be abusive...yes it does happen often........... Having agreed with most of your comments about the attitude of some security staff, may I please put our point of view.
Even on this thread, we are mentioned as idiots, nobs, etc..... do you really suggest that we do not get open abuse regularly from staff (most of it from cabin crews) who continually moan and groan about their having to go through all these security checks.... Believe it or not, I go through exactly the same security checks with the same rules applied to me as is to you lads and lasses. Taking off my shoes annoys me greatly when I cause the overhead metal detector to activate (sometimes 10 times a day on a bad day). As was also mentioned on this thread previously, we have been operating under these rules and limits on liquids, gel sizes, etc for the best part of 2 years now..... Still (less and less frequently these days) but still mainly cabin crew, are taking things like "a bottle of vodka which was still in my case from the last trip" with them in their hand luggage and believe it or not generally cause a fuss when it is taken from them.
In actual fact folks, many of us actually agree that there should be a relaxation of the rules for cabin crews, but saying that, I return to the fact that the Dept for Transport set the rules and as you pass through all these security points we, the security staff and you the staff who pass through to go airside are so monitored on cameras by DFT and other monitoring bodies..... to that end, if you feel you have been abused, mistreated or generally insulted, I suggest you feel free to ask for the tapes to be replayed... this is done often for various reasons... you may be surprised by what you see concerning the actions of aircrews, security staff and other staff... there are good and bad in security and aircrew staff.
Sorry for rambling on, I just felt aggrieved enough to put my own point of view and indeed the views of the majority of my colleagues. Most of us are not idiots or morons just because we are employed on aviation security. We do actually try to give respect where due.