Profiling Saves Lives

[Alexander Freeborn]

Profiling

I do not have one problem with being profiled, nor do I have a problem with the fact that it was my race that massacred millions through out history, gave birth to the Nazi party, the Communist Party, the KKK, or even the fact that my race put millions into slavery. My heritage in particular which is that of my family being from England, I have no problem with the fact that England slaughtered the people of Scotland, and Ireland. Why, why in God’s name does this not bother me? Because I acknowledge it, I understand it, and I put it all into perspective.

All these tragedies through out history associated with my race, and my heritage is not me, for I am a free thinking, reasoning individual, yes I am an individual, and in no way responsible for the actions of the past. But I have to face the fact that in reality there are those that for their own protection must ask questions, and it is my responsibility to fight against those dark forces in the past, and stand up and unite with others to fight that which may destroy. Why should I fear being profiled if I fight to prevent the tragedies from the past from re-occurring, and prove through my actions, and not words that there is nothing to fear.

The Blacks, Muslims, Asians, and Hispanics must acknowledge the past, and accept it is a part of their race's heritage, and is in the past. If they truly want to advance civilization, they must accept the past of their race, and seek unity to work toward understanding, and prevention. Seek out those members of their race that destroy, and condemn them rather than making them martyrs and heroes. They must understand that for the protection of the whole that certain elements of the whole shall from time to time be question, or profiled.

Individuality, Free Thinking, and Unity are the keys to a civilized society.

I've come to realize that for one to gain an understanding of the facts of today's world, one must seek out media sources beyond our shores. And the British News Agency "TimesOnline" has been a great source of inspiration, and facts. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to say that about Our main stream media?

Profiling not scanning will stop potential plane bombers
Why body-scan a family jetting to Disneyland?
January 2, 2010
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/columnists/guest_contribut...

Once again the vulnerability of air travel to terrorism has been exposed. The existing measures deployed for passenger security at airport security points didn’t stop the Christmas Day airline bomb plot suspect who had explosives sewn into his underwear. The archway metal detector can, after all, only detect metal.

Unsurprisingly, the knee-jerk reaction of many governments is to order more full-body scanners. They can, in the hands of expert operators, identify a host of substances and items concealed beneath clothing.

But it would be a grave error to use this technology to screen all passengers. Not only are these scanners much more expensive than their metal-detection predecessors, they are also slower. If they are not used smartly, the result will be longer queues. This would be self-defeating. Crowded places are targets for fanatics with homicidal intent. So our aim must be to reduce the length of the lines, not increase them.

Gordon Brown said yesterday that “we need to continually explore the most sophisticated devices capable of identifying explosives, guns, knives and other such items on the body”. Technology has its place, but the emphasis is wrong; the focus is on searching for banned items rather than looking for criminal intent.

As long as we get this wrong, security staff will continue to waste their time on the mass of ordinary passengers while ignoring the risk that individuals may pose to a flight, and terrorists will learn new tricks to circumvent the latest technology.

We ought to profile passengers. And we need trained, streetwise security professionals who evaluate our appearance, behaviour and travel documents, and then determine which technology is best suited for screening each passenger. There are various types of body scanners, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. None of us, for instance, should know how we are going to be screened at the airport.

A passenger whose ticket was paid for in cash in Ghana for a journey starting in Nigeria and ending in the US, who was traveling for two weeks with no checked bags, having visited countries associated with terrorism — let alone his name being known to the authorities — must warrant greater scrutiny; targeting passengers like that has nothing to do with religion or colour of skin. Similarly, we are wasting time and resources by asking a family jetting off to Disneyland to undergo body scans.

We need to move from the current predictable system, which is bogged down by political correctness, and move to an intelligent regime that has risk analysis at its heart.