The US introduced the new security system, which comprises more thorough friskings and whole-body scans, last autumn
By Fiona Foster Presenter, BBC Fast Track |
With the holiday season underway, intimate security checks at American airports are continuing to upset travellers.
When passengers refuse the full body scanners they may be submitted to what authorities are calling an enhanced pat-down.
Politicians
are calling for them to be outlawed but the department of justice has
threatened that flights whose passengers are not screened will be
cancelled.
Nancy Campbell, a 33-year-old from Brooklyn, compared the experience to being "sexually assaulted".
She
had been rushing to board an early morning flight to Washington from
New York's La Guardia airport when she was selected for a check at the
gate by a female official from the US Transportation Security
Administration or TSA.
"[The official] asked me to spread my arms
and my legs... and she explained that she would check me from the
outside of my arms and the outside of my legs first and then proceed
with the inside.
Click to play
Nancy Campbell recalls her unpleasant airport experience
"What I wasn't prepared for was a full examination of my breasts and
when she got through that, that's when I asked her to stop, that I'd had
enough."
But Nancy was told that either she allowed the search
to go on or she wouldn't be able to fly. As she was on an important
business trip, Nancy felt she had little choice but to agree.
"She
basically touched the insides of my legs - touching my crotch and my
buttocks, all the time not offering me an alternative."
Nancy filed a complaint about her treatment with the TSA.
'Violation'
She
is far from being a lone voice in the storm which has been created by
the new security measures, which include more thorough friskings and
whole-body scans, since they were introduced at American airports last
autumn.
"The reaction to the enhanced pat-down has been outrage
for a lot of cases," said Chris Anderson, senior travel editor at the
Huffington Post.
"It's not that the TSA is trying to tick people
off - I just think the amount of people going through this... there's
going to be a breakdown in communication and a personality conflict.
It's a human interaction after all," he added.
But it is an interaction which continues to leave some people, like
former Miss USA Susie Castillo, who was patted down after refusing a
full body scan in Dallas, furious and distressed.
"I was crying
because I'm really upset that as an American I have to go through this -
and I do feel violated - I didn't think I would when I had to opt out
of the machine but I completely feel violated," she said.
According
to Chris Anderson there is something in the news every week which
angers people: "When you see a little girl getting patted down... people
don't like that at all."
"When you see a 95-year-old woman who
had her diaper inspected, they don't like that and understandably so.
Again, if you look at it from the perspective of the TSA they have to
inspect everybody," he added.
Elevated risk
So what
can be done to maintain security and simultaneously improve the
passenger experience at airports? It is a question the International Air
Transport Association (IATA), which represents 230 airlines, has been
grappling with.
"At the top of the agenda is IATA's checkpoint of
the future - we must replace a 40-year-old concept with a risk-based
approach, powered by intelligence and technology," said Giovanni
Bisignani, the director general of IATA.
"Our passengers should be able to get from curb to gate with dignity,
without stopping, without unpacking and certainly without groping," he
added.
IATA has come up with a three lane checkpoint, one lane
for so-called "known travellers" - those who've already registered and
completed background checks with government authorities.
A
"normal" lane would be for the majority of travellers and a third lane
for "elevated risk" - where those passengers about whom less information
is available would be subjected to additional screening.
But
until the checkpoint of the future becomes a reality, the issue
continues to bother American voters and as a result, politicians across
the US are looking closely at pat-downs.
'Security theatre'
In
May Texas state lawmakers tried to pursue legislation which would make
intentional inappropriate touching of private parts an offence
punishable by up to a year in jail. State representative David Simpson
was firmly behind the bill.
"If there's probable cause certainly
we would allow those searches but to treat everyone as criminal is just
wrong - so we filed the bill to protect people's dignity, privacy, their
liberty to travel and to access public transportation," he said.
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The reaction to the bill from the government's Department of Justice
was clear - it said that if the bill was passed aeroplanes would no
longer be allowed to land in Texas.
The bill subsequently failed but Mr Simpson remains determined to keep up the pressure.
"It
dehumanises us, it treats us as cattle and it sends the wrong message.
They shouldn't be allowed to view or touch your private parts without a
reason," he said.
State legislators in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Utah, have also initiated efforts to outlaw the bill.
No one from the TSA was available for interview and instead it sent this statement:
"Pat-downs
are an important tool to help the TSA detect hidden and dangerous
items, such as improvised explosive devices... Only a small percentage
of passengers require pat-downs during the security screening process.
Pat-downs are conducted by same gender officers, and all passengers have the right to request private screening at any time."
The
TSA calls pat-downs "one of our many layers of security to keep the
travelling public safe". But David Simpson doubts their usefulness.
"The
government's duty is to protect but they shouldn't take away our
freedom - if you give up dignity and liberty in order to be safe what
are you being safe for? I think this is more about security theatre than
actual effective security," he said.
Nancy Campbell agrees that
enhanced pat-downs could prove counterproductive: "There's encouragement
from the government to have our eyes on the ground and help make our
country safer but if the government abuses the authority towards its
citizens - are we all going to feel like one big team?
"Right now I feel accosted, I feel randomly plucked and embarrassed and abused."
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