Saturday, January 31, 2009

Don't sweat at the Super Bowl - You won't get in

The TSA is going to be "helping out" law enforcement at the Super Bowl by having behavioral-detection personnel walk around looking for "suspicious behavior" from spectators entering the game.

What constitutes "suspicious"?

"Officers look for obvious signs of nervousness or other behavioral flags, such as sweating, avoiding eye contact or talking evasively."

What happens if one is indeed subjectively determined to have an excess of perspiration, or who declines to answer inane and unreasonably intrusive questions by officious people, which is after all part of one's 4th Amendment rights?

"A flagged person gets a casual interview from an officer who determines if he or she should be formally questioned or arrested."

I am not attending the game tomorrow, but I will promise you this:

The day I attempt to enter a venue to watch an event for which I've paid $1,000 or more, and I'm subsequently denied entry and detained by law enforcement, and the only evidence justifying my detention is that I'm sweating after waiting for hours in security lines in the central Florida sun, and because of that I'm grumpy and don't wish to respond to "casual" questioning, is the day I'm going to own much of the host city's wealth.

"'Police shouldn't be stopping and questioning people unless they have some credible reason to suspect them. Behavior detection is just too vague,' ACLU analyst Barry Steinhardt said. He noted sarcastically, 'If we're going to use this at high-profile sporting events, why not start using it on streets?'"

No need to be sarcastic, Mr. Steinhardt, it's on the way:

"Police around the USA are asking for the TSA training, Kair said."

See? No good jack-booted tactic is left unused these days.

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