I'll throw my hat into the ring here!!
Firstly I'll point out that I'm a budding flyer who has loved avaition from being knee high to a grasshopper and that I work on security (its a complete Marmite job for staff towards us were liked or not liked simple!)
Simple answer is that the UK government is a stickler for following every rule to the letter that Europe imposes and so the DFT come down like a ton of bricks on any AD operator for not following the rules properly and therefore aviation staff get targeted and checked more thoroughly than pax sometimes even thought we have for a lot of our jobs very stringent background checks but then still get treated with mistrust!!
As for the regulations and restrictions a lot of crews, flight deck and ground staff come to work and go through security without hassle no tutting, no causing a scene, not taking it personal and on the whole being very jovial and understanding that it is just another part of their day realizing that security as themselves have a job to do
On the other hand I've seen crews, flight deck and ground staff acting like five year old kids having temper tantrums and having a whole you are the great unwashed attitude towards security.
I do know also that some security do go on power trips with the little power they have given to them and that its a double edged sword in terms of respect between staff, but personally I've found simple phrase and a good one to stick by is 'treat others how you would like to be treated' it works a treat.
Also I've seen the rules come and go and the liberties slowly being taken away from staff and can full well understand the frustrations of some staff who have been in the industry for donkey's years and have seen a decline in the industry.
I have respect for all staff however low or high powered their job is and I also have a great amount of respect for Pilots as you guys are in a job I would love to be in and with a bit of luck and time hopefully will get to work in the best office in world.
and one final point I'll make is that in this regulation driven aviation world of ours in the UK a lot of the time common sense would like to be used but we're all bound by the rules and don't feel like putting our necks and jobs on the line for one small easily resolvable matter.