NCJ Number
136817
Journal
Security Management Volume: 36 Issue: 5 Dated: (May 1992) Pages: 27,29,31-33
Date Published
1992
Length
5 pages
Annotation
This article describes the techniques and benefits of using trained security personnel to identify suspicious persons seeking to board aircraft, based on the use of criteria for the identification of terrorists or innocent persons being used by terrorists.
Abstract
The profiling techniques described are those used by International Consultants on Targeted Security (ICTS), which was the first company to use terrorist profiling, based on the experience of the founders as security employees for El Al, the Israeli airlines. The basic concept of profiling passengers is to use trained security agents to detect patterns and behavior that warrant closer scrutiny of certain passengers and their baggage. ICTS has identified a number of suspicious signs that, for security reasons, no one in the industry will discuss. The signs generally pertain to a number of factors, including the way a person is dressed, a person's mannerisms, and a person's documents. These signs may differ according to the region of the world. The system aims to have as few people as possible selected for a more intensive search and questioning. Airlines that have implemented profiling have never had a plane explode as the result of a bomb since profiling has been in place. In addition to identifying terrorists, profiling has also identified persons engaged in other illegal activities through the use of the airlines.