4 ms·

This sounds like they’ve hired a bunch of air marshals but don’t have much for them to do. Having them make observations on random people might be a way to make

• walrus01 8y ago
  It might be like the air marshal version of a security guard route patrol system, where the guard has to swipe a fob or access card at predefined locations in a campus or building periodically. Intended to enforce actually patrolling an area. Not saying it's a good thing, just that's the closest analogy I can think of. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_tour_patrol_system https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guard_tour_patrol_system https://www.guard1.com/Products/Equipment/Checkpoints.aspx https://www.guard1.com/Products/Equipment/Checkpoints.aspx
  • TheSpiceIsLife 8y ago
    <knee slap!> That's a good one! The closest analogy I could come up with was the Stasi. Okay, I'll concede, it's not really analogy, it's more like a 1:1 mapping: "One of its main tasks was spying on the population, mainly through a vast network of citizens turned informants"[1] 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stasi
    • a3n 8y ago
      And this being a capitalist society, we pay our citizens (marshals and TSA) to spy on each other.
• nobody271 8y ago
  That sounds like the most reasonable explanation to me. Being an air marshal and being an air marshal's boss are coveted jobs.
• a3n 8y ago
  It could also be a way to keep the budget up. No federal department or manager wants to lose people, as it's a proxy for status.