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You say preventing copycat attacks, I say it's a purely reactive approach towards security, which does not work.
by newman314 15y ago
You say preventing copycat attacks, I say it's a purely reactive approach towards security, which does not work.
- bo1024 15y agoIt's not supposed to work, it's supposed to provide job security.
- jrockway 15y agoWhy can't the TSA rent-a-thugs be cops or something? At least they'd be deterring crimes that actually happen.
- arohner 15y agoYou want those imbeciles to have guns? And what crimes happen in the vicinity of their screening area that could be prevented?
- lloeki 15y ago> You want those imbeciles to have guns? No, he wants real cops. In France, in public places like railway stations, the "plan Vigipirate" makes use of the military (including gendarmerie)
- 46Bit 15y agoThe main crime in screening areas, beyond violation of people's rights, is probably TSA employees stealing things.
- mahmud 15y agoNo one is hiring cops. Listen to this week's This American Life; small-government fetishists are firing public workers, and for very good reasons.
- uxp 15y agoThe TSA _are_ deterring crimes. Drug related crimes (possession) has gone up substantially at airports, and there are known cases of credit card fraud, animal smuggling and child porn being found while searching belongings of travelers. Whether or not you think that the TSA should be involved in anything past securing the ability for persons to travel is the question.
- DanBC 15y agoerm, isn't "catching people committing a crime" proof that the crimes are not being deterred?
- vacri 15y agoCops have generalist training that can be used across a wide variety of situations where you have to think on your feet. It would be a waste of that training to just chain it to a scanner week-in, week-out.
- vidarh 15y agoHe meant the other way around. Train the TSA agents to be cops instead and have them do actual police duty instead of hanging around airports being annoying obstacles for travelers.
- ktizo 15y agoThousands Standing Around.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- antonej 15y agoSomehow it seems to have worked OK judging by results. See my separate comment about 106 million flights since 9/11/01 without any successful terrorist attacks.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- damncabbage 15y agoLet me tell you about my rock that keeps away tigers...
- CamperBob 15y agoWould you like to buy my rock?
- MrMan 15y agoNice try but the TSA would confiscate this rock you are selling. The real deterrent against tigers is their fear of flying.
- freehunter 15y agoAnd how many terrorist hijackings/crashes in the US were there before 9/11?
- DanBC 15y agoIndeed, there are weird side-effects. A man tries to set fire to plastic explosive in his shoes, so long queues form (in airports) for people to remove their shoes. Intelligence comes in about liquid / gel / paste explosives, so now those long queues have to abandon any liquids / gels / pastes in bins, near those long queues, inside an airport. Those "potential explosives" are not allowed on a plane, but are allowed to be left for hours (days?) near lots of people in an airport.