Oct 29 2007
Mr Malik enters the real world
Mr Malik has complained today that as a visiting Minister discussing tacking terrorism he had his hand luggage inspected in the USA.
I agree with him that he should not be on a suspects list, but he should understand that the "security" systems put in on both sides of the Atlantic by Ministers and senior officials mean imposing many unnecessary checks on people who have no connections with terrorism whatsoever and are never going to .
I am glad Mr Malik was inconvenienced like many of my constituents on a daily basis. He should now come home and ask himself how he can improve our security systems at airports, public buildings and conferences, to target the searches on those where there is some ground to be suspicious.
Why, for example, do people who have been given clearance and a pass to attend a party conference or to enter a public building which is their place of work have to to go through luggage and clothing checks every time they go in and out of the office, conference hall or hotel?
It means wasting a great deal of police time on tedious and fruitless searches when a targetted approach - maybe backed up with a random check system - would be more effective and free the vast majority from needless checks or from double and treble checking.
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John Redwood has been the Member of Parliament for Wokingham since 1987. First attending Kent College, Canterbury, he graduated from Magdalen College...
Why, for example, do people who have been given clearance and a pass to attend a party conference or to enter a public building which is their place of work have to to go through luggage and clothing checks every time they go in and out of the office, conference hall or hotel?
That one is easy to answer. If you create two channels through security, then the bad guys will find how to use the easier one.
If you have a two tier system, the security guards checking people not only have to worry about who to check, and what to check, but also have to be able to identify a valid “fast track” pass over a forged, or stolen one.
Let the people focusing on screening people entering secure areas focus on one thing only, screening people, not trying to figure out if this person should be able to escape screening.
Reply: If everyone has to be screened there is no point in checking out and issuing passes.