Heathrow staff given ‘behavioural profiling’ training
15.01.10
Security staff at Heathrow are being trained in ‘behavioural profiling’ of passengers in order to spot potential terrorists, the Telegraph reports. A specialist unit of airport staff are being taught how to recognise the body language of potential suicide bombers. Police patrolling at the airport already look for suspicious behaviour, however the new scheme, called a Behavioural Analysis Screening System, aims specifically at teaching staff about the traits of would-be bombers.
The newspaper reports that it will be based on an Israeli model, which attempts to identify a suspicious individual walking in a crowd of hundreds by looking for nervous behaviour, such as avoiding eye-contact, or having the appearance of being drugged. They also look for basic tell-tale clues such as the wearing of excessively heavy or bulky clothing to hide explosives and the way someone handles their bag or backpack.
The training is the latest response to the Christmas Day plot when former London student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempted to blow up a plane over Detroit. It is seen as an alternative to the controversial racial profiling of passengers, and would be used in addition to new screening machines.
Andy Trotter, chief constable of the British Transport Police, told the newspaper: ‘This is an objective assessment of people's behaviour rather than profiling who they are. It takes away the blanket approach to stop and search and lets officers focus on people who may be of interest by looking at behaviour.’
'We do not profile, but in a mass transit situation we are dealing with a whole range of different people. The idea is to make our officers more targeted when they are confronted with masses of people.’
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