Airport Pat Downs
Airport pat down are used as a means of security screening before travel. These are used to check if the passenger has any materials that pose threat to the airline or fellow passengers. The passenger is checked for materials that may be hidden in their bodies. However, I do not approve of this means of ensuring airport security. For instance, it is offensive to the passenger, undermines or even kills the morale of the airport security personnel.
Airport pat downs are a means of sexual assault. Every person regardless of whether they are a threat to security is entitled to their privacy especially in sexually related matters. Pat downs and full body scans will reflect the bodies of nude passengers on machines. This is then not a protection of their privacy. Because of this, even the Americans have appalled the use of enhanced airport pat downs as well as full body scans during travel by air. This is because they know that it is a violation of the rights of the passenger.
Arguments are that female travelers are patted down by female personnel while male passengers are patted down by the male. Though this may seem that it is not an assault because these are people of the same gender, it can only be applicable to heterosexuals. This then raises the question of how pat downs should be carried out incases where the passengers are homosexuals. There have been some further arguments that the feelings of being violated would be reduced or even eliminated if gay males were patted down by females and lesbians were patted down by men and especially the gay men. However, this is not a good idea at all and pat downs are still a violation. Furthermore, even if one is a homosexual, they would not go ahead exposing themselves to any other homosexual.
According to the TSA, the images that are portrayed in the pat down machines are never retained. The claim is that the image is immediately deleted from the pat down system once the person has been cleared by security. However, I still find it embarrassing that the image of a nude person will be reflected in a machine regardless of whether it is immediately deleted or not. Furthermore, I still question whether the process of deletion of the images is an automatic one, the time that it will take for the image to be deleted and if the security personnel can alter the process and thus retain the images. Of course this is possible since these are machines that have been made by human beings and thus there can be processes or programs designed by people to counter their operations.
A remark by the secretary of the homeland security was that the imaging technology that is used in carrying out airport pat downs does not store images and thus printing or even transmission of such images is not possible. However, this cannot be true 100 percent. This is because the same report that cited that the imager devices can not store these images also cited that when the devices are being tested, they are capable of and will allow the export of the scanned images. Further, CNN reports (2010) have shown that scanned images were stored in the machines that are used to scan people visiting a courthouse in Florida. It is a similar technology that is used in airport security pat downs and thus this is proof that the images can be stored in these machines.
A report by an anti gay group revealed that TSA (Transport Security Agency) agents may be secretly getting satisfaction from the security pat downs carried out in airports (Anonymous, 2010). This reports showed that the homosexual agents carrying out pat downs were being turned on in the process. This then shows how unknowingly innocent passengers are being used as a way of sexually satisfying the homosexual security personnel. This has also been a concern of the leaders for religious rights. They have accused the government that it is obliged to homosexuality and has consequently feminized the armed forces.
In my opinion, the security pat downs carried out in airports contribute greatly towards undermining the armed forces and killing their morale as well. It is not all the security officers who will feel comfortable with carrying out the pat downs. To them it will also be an embarrassing situation seeing the bodies of nude passengers. In any work environment, employees have to be motivated to ensure that their increase their performance and hence the productivity of the organization. However, this is undermined in airport security. Though there are those who are turned on, others enjoy the process, there are also those who will not find it pleasant and thus demotivates them.
Further, being turned on does not necessary imply sexual satisfaction. Therefore, this may force security personnel to engage in bad behaviors in search for sexual satisfaction. Security pat downs are carried out by use of machines. This also exposes the passengers to some health effects. The use of these machines on a passenger exposes them to dangerous rays and with its continued use; it will have adverse effects on the person for example cancer.
In conclusion therefore, airport security pat downs are an embarrassment, they are a violation to the passengers and dangerous as well. They also kill the morale of the armed forces. Thus, alternative methods should be used to ensure airport security.
References
Anonymous, (2010). Anti-gay group: ‘Homosexual’ TSA staff ‘secretly turned on’ by pat downs. Retrieved on May 3, 2011 from: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/17/gay-tsa-workers-secretly-turned-on-patdowns/.
CNN, (2010). Standing Up to Airport Pat-Downs. Retrieved on May 3, 2011 from: http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1011/15/acd.01.html.
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