What Made Airport Security Suspicious?
I’m curious what you guys think about this. Back in December, when we went to Rome, I was held back by Airport security at Aldergrove. I was a bit surprised - this had never happened before - but I went with the flow.
The security guy took my backpack and opened it up, taking out my digital camera, the two iPod shuffles we’d brought, mobile phones, an assortment of batteries for the camera, spare XD cards and some guidebooks about Rome. Oh, and Joe Cahill’s biography, which I was reading at the time for a review here. Once the bag was emptied, it was also swabbed inside for testing.
Between myself, Mrs L, Sister In-Law and her boyfriend, there’s been much heated debate about whether the Cahill biography was the catalyst for this. I am not so cynical, I thought it might have been the amount of electronic equipment I was carrying. I mean, how much can they see in those airport scanners anyway?
What do you think, is Levee now on a suspected terrorists list somewhere? Was Joe Cahill to blame for the whole thing? Who knows?
Its the electronics. I had the same experience going through both JFK and Heathrow - I had a bunch of electronic bits and bobs in my bag, plus some cables - they swabbed it to test for explosives, had a dog sniff it, etc.
hi,
i was recently in heathrow airport, after getting through about 4 security checks, standing at the door, waiting for the door to open. I had my laptop in my hand, in a sleeve.
A security guy walked over, saw me, and asked me to open my bag and the laptop.
He had a clipboard and form, and from my up sidedown reading skills, it looked like he had a quota to fill, of random searches.
I think that they search anyone. Be they “normal looking” (ie without bags, electronics, etc) and the obvious electronics carrier (like me, and probably you too).
I asked why he was searchimg my bag, and he, of course, said routine security checks.
Of course, if he was any good, he would have checked my shoe!
It was probably the electronics - they can see that there’s a book but not the title of it!! In Stanstead some months ago I was sitting on the floor sorting through a lot of books and articles I’d got on Pakistan during a visit to SOAS and security were hovering, I was later questioned for quite some time on why I was interested in Pakistan and why I had all this information (books on the history, Muslim mind, Al Q etc….). Struck me as kind of extreme - then again I did get lippy with them, especially when they asked me if I was returning to Northern Ireland or “the Irish Republic”.
I once had a young guy search my bag so intensively that he checked my contact lens case as well as my brand new Chanel lip colour bought in duty free on the plane!
I think it’s routine to do the swab. I took an orange to Florida once and had it confiscated (I was planning to eat it while waiting for a connecting flight, I wasn’t leaving the airport) I thought they must have surmised that if I was so brazen to bring in fruit, what would stop me from bring in explosives?
“then again I did get lippy with them, especially when they asked me if I was returning to Northern Ireland or ?the Irish Republic?.”
Ahh the old body-cavity search… memories
Incidentally, what was your problem with the reference to the “Irish Republic” ?
I find it….patronising. I hate it. It’s like when people on English news programs say “the Irish prime minister”. It just…pisses me off
Do you find it patronising on RTE news when they refer to “the British prime minister”? Why does that piss you off?
Fiona: I understand what you mean, but trying to get an English person to pronounce “Taoiseach” correctly, would be as difficult in getting them to pronounce “Lehendakari”, (which is Basque for President). Incidently, Spanish media announcers seem to be able to pronounce it correctly.
I agree that they should learn how to pronounce the word, but…well, let’s be honest, thats not going to happen.
Mr Levee: Can’t agree with the other posters here who think its about the electronic’s, I want to but I can’t. Its nothing to do with electronoc’s or anything else in the bag, for that matter. Obviously these security crettins don’t read blogs and if they do they don’t visit, The Levee Breaks. They don’t know what there missing. Its the photo’s, your photo to be precise, the one you printed here - the one like the dead Bee Gee, Suspicious or what lol
When I moved to Canada, I left from the City airport, I had a ton of stuff in my hand luggage. I had to empty my meticulously-packed laptop bag when I went through security. When I pulled out a laptop, iSight camera, digital camera, iPod, PDA, mobile phone and a pile of leads and adapters, the security woman looked at it all for a minute, and said, “I’ve never seen anyone with so much stuff!”
That’ll be why my sister refers to me as “you big geek” all the time.
I think it’s the laptop - in Toronto they are always x-rayed separately and rubbed with the wee white cloth. Usually shoes must be removed and x-rayed as well!
Parnell: In retrospect, the photo was a bad idea. Mostly because my hair is receding at breakneck speed! Anyway, I always fancied myself as ’stud’ Bee Gee, but without the tight trousers….
Sandra: You big geek! Bet you forget to pack your clothes!
Clothes? Dammit, I always forget something
Animus - no I don’t, because the title of the British head of cabinet is the Prime Minister. The title of the head of the Irish cabinet is the Taoiseach.
I realised that after I posted. But would you expect most British people to understand that? I wouldn’t expect any head of state from another country to be referred to in the national language, whether king/queen, president or prime minister.
Are you offended when the notional head of Holland is referred to as Queen Beatrice?
I think the fact that we’re 100 miles apart and Britain colonised Ireland for a few hundred years the most they could do is refer to things properly - the offence comes from the feeling, very often, that we’re close enough to one another to have sufficient respect and use the correct terms to refer to one another’s positions.
Nyeh - it’s a bug bear of mine.
The backpack will do it every time. Customs officials have some sort of backpack obsession. If you have a suitcase, you’re respectable, a backpack… you’re dodgey. Proper people have proper luggage. It’s in the mental manual of excise and security. I’ve been stopped numerous times at ports and airports with a backpack/rucksack. Dover was the worst where a nice customs man snapped on a pair of latex gloves and dragged my male companion into a side room. There was nothing at all in our rucksacks to give them grounds for a strip search. Never been stopped once with traditional luggage… the fools!
Still, isn’t it better they’re thorough in looking for suspicious items even if it’s a little humiliating waiting while a stranger rummages through your things. We should be well used to that kind of security in Norn Iron.
Fair enough Fiona - I guess I’m just in an antagonistic mood!
I asked the gentleman who searched my bag and swabbed my laptop what he was doing. He said that they check everyone who is carrying gadgetry because they can not tell by xray if it contains explosives or not. He went on to say that the machine can be configured for explosives or drugs and that sometimes it picks up police men or the military if they have been on a firing range days before. The also said that the one at Belfast city is only set up to pick up traces of explosives at the moment.
I have had this happen twice once of last Christmas and again a couple of weeks ago.
P.S. I found this site as I’m moving from the Isle of Man to Portstewart. I and by the way I can’t pronounce the Manx word for Chief Minister : )…
Hmmm wonder why they swabbed the book, was it for dna maybe?