This news note from the Daily ARTA Newsletter flags an development that may be relevant to some travelers with disabilities. With such an ill defined mandate what impact will the new TSA SPOT program("Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques") have on travelers with disabilities of all types?
"The American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit
yesterday challenging the constitutionality of a so-called "behavioral
assessment" program adopted by the Massachusetts Port Authority and the
Massachusetts state police."
blockquote>The program allows officals to stop and detail people for questioning at Logan airport. "This program is another unfortunate example of the extent to which we are being asked to surrender basic freedoms in the name of security," said the Legal Director of the ACLU of Massachusetts. "This
allows the police to stop anyone, any time, for any reason."
Behavioral profiling has been used as the basis for stopping passengers since 2002 when Massport announced that State Police troopers at Logan were being
trained by an outside security consultant.
A similar program, called SPOT ("Screening of Passengers by Observation Techniques"). will be launched soon by the TSA at airports nationwide. Current law permits the police to stop and question someone when they have a reasonable suspicion that the person is committing, has committed, or was about to commit a crime. The "behavioral profiling" program instructs officers to detain anyone who they believe is exhibiting "unusual" or anxious" behavior.
What constitutes this behavior is left to the individual officer's discretion.
Posted by rollingrains at November 8, 2004 07:40 PM | TrackBack