Security done well

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Viewing 15 posts - 1 through 15 (of 35 total)

  • Anonymous
    Guest

    Charles-P
    Participant

    I flew into Ankara Turkey on Sunday less than 24 hours after the terrorist attack that killed many and when I arrived at Ankara it was good to see a country that takes security seriously.
    Immigration was not some goon with their stupid questions about how long I intend to stay but a police office with sensible probing enquiries about me and my business, very much like the Israeli approach.
    Before leaving the airport there was another check by customs with again sensible questions and checks. Each non Turkish customer was required to provide full hotel details and these were checked with a phone call while we waited.

    All in all sensible good security for a change from people who knew what they were doing.


    SimonS1
    Participant

    Whether the security people knew what they were doing is open to debate – that isn’t what the Turkish people appear to be saying.

    I wonder what the security process was 24 hours before the bombings rather than 24 hours after. It’s always possible to be wise after the event.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    Sadly it took 9-11 to turn USA into a fortress..

    Beforehand, more or less anything would pass security..


    Charles-P
    Participant

    SimonS1 – yes of course there is an element of ‘stable door and horses bolted’ but the point I was trying to make is that having seen a security threat the reaction has been good.
    In London for example I hear repeatedly that the current threat level is “severe – an attack is highly likely” and yet the G4 monkeys at London City care more about my bottle of shampoo than they do asking a few intelligent questions that would assist in profiling.
    The latest information here in Turkey from INFORMED sources is that the attack is likely to have come from ISIS as retaliation for Kurdish resistance in Northern Syria and Iraq.


    JeffD
    Participant

    In praise of UK airport security

    I have been amased at the way some of the travelling public treat the airport security staff. I work in a service industry and appreciate the pressures that front line staff are under. I recently saw a someone really shouting at the airpoty security staff as they are asked to take off her boots. I guess she was a DYKWIA, but never the less the rules apply to all passengers. I have to admit that sometimes the lines at security are a bit daunting but at the end of the day I prefer to be held up for a few minutes rather than have a mid air security alert.

    I can only a big thank you to all the airport security staff who keep me safe travelling a couple of times a week. Please keep up the good work and try to ignor the comments of the idoiots who think thye are above being checked.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    I am sure it was on this Forum I got this tip and since I have been following it, the metal detector has not bleeped once (even with my shoes on)..

    Walk through the arch with “purpose” – don’t linger through….


    Charles-P
    Participant

    Jefferydavison – to me the point is not about the length of the lines or the tiny minority or are unable to understand why they need to be checked, it is about competence.

    If you want to see security done well go fly El Al from Tel Aviv, they don’t waste time with meaningless disposal of after shave because it is 10ml over their artificial limits but they do have trained psychologists profiling the staff, they use the latest software in their baggage scanners (ask Heathrow what version they are on) and they have staff trained to read body language and speech patterns.
    I would gladly wait longer if the checks were being done properly and not just to tick a box in the QA form that the insurance company has imposed.

    The first thing I would do is to find intelligent staff (perhaps with a military background), train them properly, pay them well and get rid of the minimum wage, G4 Job Centre fodder who seem to be doing the job now


    dutchyankee
    Participant

    Charles-P, you can praise Israeli security at the airport, and rightfully so, but I have likewise seen on occasion the over zealous soldier who feels his job is to make the passenger a nervous wreck, then pull them aside for further questioning. As I said and agree with you, for the most part excellent, but they don’t all just ask intelligent questions, for some they go too far. I actually enter and exit Israel on my US passport and ask them not to stamp it, which never makes them happy. On one occasion when leaving through Tel Aviv I was questioned for over 15 minutes about why I had been to Saudi Arabia, what I was doing there, etc., to which I kept replying I hadn’t (I had but not on this passport). He started protesting, pointing at stamps in my passport, to which I replied, that is the UAE not Saudi Arabia; his answer was priceless, ‘Same Thing.’ I asked a rather pointed and sarcastic question back, and was let through. They seem to thrive on making the passenger nervous, which doesn’t work on me, but does on some. Is their security excellent, obviously yes, but not all are trained psychologists, some are just badges with a point to make!


    Charles-P
    Participant

    dutchyankee – yes I agree there are exceptions who are as you say “over zealous” but better that than the London City idiots who I would not trust to spot a terrorist if he was carrying a back pack with wires hanging out and shouting “Allahu Akbar”


    dutchyankee
    Participant

    Fully agree with you Charles-P. I am much happier feeling completely certain about the security checks, even if sometimes over zealous, as opposed to what you describe LCY to be like (I haven’t been through there in a long time). I am often amazed at the variations from one airport to another. Leaving LED, the Russian security never noticed I had my cigar burner in my carry-on (I forgot it), but when I arrived in ZRH for my connection to BRU, the Swiss security picked it up, and unfortunately for me, confiscated my burner, but understandably so. It right away made me wonder how effective or ineffective the Russian security was.


    MartynSinclair
    Participant

    @dutchyankee – what goes in at the front of the Q is sometimes to allow profilers to check reactions of people behind…


    dutchyankee
    Participant

    That makes sense Martyn.


    canucklad
    Participant

    For me, the word security, and even worse sticking the word homeland into the mix, serves only one purpose …….to placate us emotionally, by at the same time, both raising our paranoia and reducing our fears !!

    With every passing day, month and year my cynicism grows and grows. And without turning this topic into a semi-quasi geo political conspiracy debate…..and I find, I’m asking myself the following questions.

    Why the inconsistencies in procedure, not just at different airports, but the same airport…..
    And it’s not just the ol’ Shoes or No shoes conundrum……
    Why pick on an old confused Jamacian granny heading to see relatives and pretty much allow what appears to be at first glance. an individual heading off to join jihad, with more hand luggage than a camel could carry to breeze through….. And some of you might accuse me of being racist, with that example; I’d say I’m being realistically pragmatic.

    More importantly, on the day of the MH17 report, why have our government, along with the EU allowed the perpetrators of that atrocity of the hook ?

    I feel strongly that has travellers, the actions, or in-actions of our governments put us in danger without us necessarily linking it to “Security”

    Wherever you are, and however it’s achieved I think it’s incredibly sad and frankly depressing that with every passing day, we are moving towards more of an Israeli approach than a liberalised western approach.


    Charles-P
    Participant

    I know of someone who is a regular visitor to Russia and he says in the ‘wild East’ as he calls it (Siberia and the like) domestic flying is like stepping back in time. Security is often very lax and enforcement of rules like no smoking and baggage hit and miss.

    With regard to London the issue for me is almost entirely a training issue, the staff are unmotivated and underpaid, they are as a result resentful and often rude, I always get the feeling an argument is only a word away.

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