Profiling of terrorist has had many impacts on the rights of the Americans in the airlines. Numerous laws and even constitutional rights of the fliers have been violated all in the name of fighting terrorism. According to Daniel (2008) ethnic profiling of people by their appearances infringes their rights and does not effectively counter terrorism. There are reasons that bar profiling based on ethnicity, race and religious backgrounds. One of the reasons against profiling is hurting the country’s image. The United States has always been a beacon of global freedom but with profiling, this has been destroyed to a greater percentage. Profiling too undermines American’s greatest strengths and unduly targeting the Muslims creates enmity with their government and isolates them from law enforcement. They feel neglected and threatened in their own dear and mother country. This unfair targeting indicates that the American government accepts discrimination against the Muslims. Each and every citizen should feel comfortable in their country and even protection against such should be provided in the outside. Profiling of Arab-Americans and Muslim citizens by leaders in the political class should be stopped as well as the immigrants by speaking against the demonizing voices of the people.
A smaller percentage of the people profiled should not entirely destroy the living rights of the others. Moreover, these systematic policies of torture, targeted killings, political surveillance and religious discrimination strain the relationships with allies. It also hands a propaganda tool to the enemies as well as undermining the trust of communities which is so needed in the fight against terrorism. Another reason for not profiling terrorists is that, they are very intelligent and thus can surmise the law enforcement profiling method. With this, they can recruit people that do not at all fit in the criteria that include race, origin and religious profiles among others.
There are many other methods to counter terrorists in the airports. Ways of screening terrorists to ensure safe flying. Addis (1992) maintains that “no one device has been invented to detect all the weapons used by terrorists” (p. 26). This made the Israelites to use human beings in order to counter fellow human beings. The essence of the screening is to get the person carrying the explosions and not the explosions per se. Profiling is based on what the terrorists have done in the past to predict their next move in the future like talking differently and methods of boarding aircrafts. According to Jillette (2002), the terrorists should be made to do the profiling themselves (p. 68). This is through not screening at all but letting everyone to board with everything in their possessions. He described this as an alternative of profiling that reduces the long queues though it poses great and fatal threats to the many innocents in the planes. Another way of screening is by contacting interviews to eliminate those that do not pose security threat by closer monitoring and detection of patterns and behaviors that warrant closer scrutiny. Use of public education from intense media curbs terrorism too. This is so in that people never leave their luggage unattended and never carry anything from fellow fliers making it easier to detect culprits. A trusted traveler program will allow millions of passengers to bypass long security lines as an alternative to profiling. This entails fliers undergoing through extensive background checks (Stephen, 2002, p. A.4). This is not adequate regardless because terrorists can lie low for years to attack. Another way of screening is the use of Positive Passenger Bag Matching (PPBM) that prevents bombs from getting into the planes. The technique involves matching the correct bag with the right owner. Another method is the use of Screening Passenger by Observation Technique (SPOT) which according to Hilkevitch (2007) focuses strongly on observation and not appearance in anyway (p. 10).
There has also been the use of ultraviolet lights that shine on driver’s licenses to detect fake IDs. Others use special eye pieces to catch phony ID cards mostly used by students to join clubs. Computer Assisted Passenger Prescreening System (CAPPS) has been used and relies mostly on the basic information given during reserving and buying of tickets. To improve on this, software that matches airline passenger’s reservation records with public databases such as property reports, licenses and personal contacts has been created. This is very helpful in countering terrorism because one’s background is known before hand. All in all, profiling remains the best way of countering terrorism not based on race, religion or national origin but behavioral profiling. Additionally, a report by Airport Security (2002) argues that a balanced profiling system that includes nationality could greatly improve aviation security (p. 1).
REFERENCES
Addis, K. K. (1992). Aviation security: Profiling for terrorists. Security Management,
36(5), 26-26.
Beefed up passenger profiling could raise civil rights issues. (2002). Airport Security Report, 9(6), 1-1.
Daniel , M. (2008). The impossibility of terrorist profiling. Retrieved from
http://www.opendemocracy.net/terrorism/article/racial_profiling_MI5_UK.
Hilkevitch, J. (2007). Behavior scrutinized at Ohare: Federal officers use psychology
tactics in search for terrorists. McClatchy - Tribune Business News.
Jillette, P. (2002). Make the terrorists do the profiling. Regulation, 25(1), 68-68.
Stephen, P. (2002). Background checks await fliers --- U.S. asks software providers for
help in identifying terrorists. Wall Street Journal, A.4-A.4.
