Journalists:
The BBC,
There was a time, and I suppose I am showing my age here, when the BBC was a byword for accurate reporting and journalistic standards. Just like being a GPO trained telephonist, it meant something to have that training and environmental experience behind you.
Sadly, like RAF Scotland where we had at least 8 places to be posted, those days are all behind us now.
There is rarely a day that I don’t see or hear something from the BBC that makes me cringe. That, I think, would make a better topic for Radio 4. Shabby reporting, piss-poor grammar, and a lack of basic education being evident, all very sad to see in the once great BBC.
I’m not sure I have anything to add to this discussion on deportees and handling of them, apart from to say that the only time I had direct contact was years ago, when I had an adult male (allegedly “violent/escaper”) deportee in my custody at Glasgow Airport. I got him at about 17:30 and he went out on an 06:00 to bongo bongo land. I kept him handcuffed for the entire period that he was in my care. I used two sets of cuffs, him restrained and connected to me, and never at any time considered letting him loose.
He was pleasant enough and gave me no trouble, I suspect that was because I told him right at the start that I was not going to let him loose, regardless of what he said or did.
I left one set of handcuffs on him when I sat him in the front row of the aircraft and gave the keys to the guy going away with him. That guy was happy to not be connected while onboard, and that was his choice. I would have handcuffed the prisoner to the seat if I was travelling with him, but I suspect the Captain would have objected to that. Joe Public has no idea of how difficult it is to restrain a resisting person.
As for upsetting the pax, assuming the deportee is going out with a carrier who brought him in, then the airline have only themselves to blame. In the event of the deportee coming in through another route, the Airline need to decide whether or not they should carry him with pax.
Equally, passengers can decide to get off rather than be on an aircraft with a very unwilling passenger, because that's a recipie for things going bad. It would take three big guys to stop one man getting out of his seat and opening door in the upper air.
My main concern with all that has gone on recently, is that there is public money being spent to no great benefit.