Report: Racial profiling alleged at Boston airport
NEW YORK (AP) — Transportation Security Administration officers at Boston's Logan International Airport are alleging that a program intended to help flag possible terrorists based on passengers' mannerisms has led to rampant racial profiling, a newspaper reported Saturday.
The New York Times (http://nyti.ms/P2enzf ) reported on its website that in interviews and internal complaints it has obtained, more than 30 officers involved in the "behavior detection" program at Logan contend that the operation targets not only Middle Easterners, but also passengers who fit certain profiles — such as Hispanics traveling to Miami, or blacks wearing baseball caps backward.
The TSA told the newspaper on Friday that it is investigating the officers' claims. At a meeting last month with the agency, officers provided written complaints, some of them anonymous, from 32 officers.
The officers said their co-workers were increasingly targeting minorities, believing the stops would lead to the discovery of drugs, outstanding arrest warrants and immigration problems, in response to pressure from managers who wanted high numbers of stops, searches and criminal referrals, The Times reported.
"The behavior detection program is no longer a behavior-based program, but it is a racial profiling program," one officer wrote in an anonymous complaint The Times obtained.
The program, which has been billed as a model for other airports across the country, is intended to allow officers to stop, search and question passengers who seem suspicious. Specially trained "assessors" observe security lines for unusual activity and speak individually with each passenger, looking for inconsistencies in the passenger's responses to questions and behavior such as avoiding eye contact, fidgeting or sweating.
Passengers considered suspicious can be taken aside for more intensive questioning.
At least one passenger has filed a formal complaint with the TSA. Kenneth Boatner, a black psychologist and educational consultant who was traveling to Atlanta on business last month, said he was detained for nearly half an hour as agents examined his belongings, including his checkbook and his patients' clinical notes.
In an interview with The Times, Boatner said he felt humiliated, and that the officers never explained why they were singling him out, but he suspected it was because of his race and attire. He was wearing sweat pants, a white T-shirt and high-top sneakers.
"I had never been subjected to anything like that," Boatner said.
The TSA said the program at Logan "in no way encourages or tolerates profiling," and that passengers cannot be subjected to behavior assessments based on their nationality, race, ethnicity or religion.
"If any of these claims prove accurate, we will take immediate and decisive action to ensure there are consequences to such activity," the agency said in a statement.
The TSA said it did not compile information on passengers' race or ethnicity and could not provide a breakdown of passengers who may have been stopped on either basis through the program.
Send Comments
Your comments will be added to the article that you write about, so include the article title
Today is
Racial Profiling is "automatic" for 95% of all White Officers
White men, taught early in life, that blacks are ignorant, thieves, liars, thugs, brutes, animals, people of no value, people that have no skills, people who are lazy, and people that would as easily cut your throat as smile in your face.
Police Officers, after time, develope a protectionism force field around themselves, in order to protect themselves from all the criminal element that they interact with on a daily bases.
Similar to Military Personnel in war scenarios who bond together like family members, creating a psychological connection with every member of their team..., Police officers create the same connection among each other, and their family become a closely tied unit that would be willing to fight for one another, die for one another, lie for one another and even kill for one another.
We have witnessed this degree of close connections and protectionism in the New Orleans murder of the innocent victims that were shot in the back during Katrina, we witnessed it in the Trayvon Martin case where the entire police department took the same disposition of protectionism which eventually lead to the firing of the police chief.
Addressing the Dual Characteristics of Malice
Thus, the average police officer will, with time spent on the police force, develop a family type bond with all other officers, which equates to a psychological connection of extreme power, gained based on conscientious appreciation of acceptance to the family.
The Psychological bond, that family bond, is the force field around all of the family members, and it's that force field that cause all police officers to develop the "Us Against Them Mentality" towards all citizens, with a specific focus on the specific type of people that have been amalgamated with on job experiences with specific groups of people that cause the racial profiling to, simply, be part of the officer's mind set.
What's the solution?
Higher Educational Requirements for all Police Officers, to ensure that the educated mind's approach to all life situations is activated, nullifying ignorant acts of aggressions by the under educated minded officer.
Rotate Police officers duties such that each officer gets equal time at arresting possible criminals, equal time at learning about prisoner's lives in the form of counseling, and equal time with doing desk work for a period of time, to provide a buffer time away from any criminal face to face interactions, on the street, or in counseling sessions.
Have a independent body conduct random inspections, investigations on all levels of law enforcement, to include perpetrating a crime to experience the arrest process of a specific department, as well as randomly reviewing all police reports for accuracy, and validating their entries with witnesses, and the arrested perpetrators.
Profiling is expected, but, it's not acceptable, and if our law enforcement members are not checked or corrected, their behavior only gets worse, to the extent, that they become "Law Enforcement Bullies" that abuse power.
In My Opinion
ASKFMB
8/12/2012
Send Comments
Your comments will be added to the article that you write about, so include the article title
