"Europe and Asia try 'security with smile'"

Friday, December 24, 2004

Europe and Asia try 'security with smile'  
By Thomas Fuller and Don Phillips 
The International Herald Tribune


PARIS - As someone who has taken 100 flights this year, Steve Richardson has
a few things to say about airport security.

In the United States, where he lives, a stick of deodorant inside his
luggage once set off the alarm of an explosives-detection machine. A
suitcase he checked in was unpacked and then repacked - with someone else's
clothing.

He said he had been "punished" by security screeners after he balked at
taking off his shoes (they subjected him to an intimate pat-down, the kind
now being reviewed in the United States after complaints).

But in Europe and Asia, Richardson and many other passengers report, there
is less hassle and more politeness at airport security checks. There is
little tension while waiting in line, and screeners use a wand instead of
their hands when searching passengers.

"It's often a pleasure clearing a checkpoint in Europe while it can be a
nightmare here in the States," Richardson said by e-mail.

This opinion is shared by Gaston Sendin, a 28-year-old Argentinian who is
studying neurobiology near Hannover, Germany, and often travels within
Europe and to the United States.

"In the States, I get the impression they want to appear like barking dogs
as a way to dissuade," said Sendin in the waiting area of Hannover's small
international airport on a recent afternoon.

Nearby, five screeners operated the x-ray and metal-detection equipment at
the gate. A woman and man passed a metal-detecting wand over passengers who
set off the walk-through detector. Another screener playfully teased a child
at the checkpoint.

With a longer history of terrorism - everything from attacks by the Irish
Republican Army to the bombing of a Pan American jetliner over Lockerbie,
Scotland, in 1988 - European screeners have had far longer to hone their
skills than their U.S. counterparts.

The European Civil Aviation Conference, led by Britain, reacted to the
Lockerbie bombing by requiring baggage to travel on the same plane as the
passenger who checked it.

The United States let 13 years go by before it took that step - after the
Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and on the
Pentagon.

The post-9/11 American security measures were put together quickly under
orders from Congress. The result was a hodgepodge of measures that are still
being reconciled. Airports were not designed for the new screening
equipment, which was often installed with little or no planning.

The 40 countries involved in the European Civil Aviation Conference spent
six years planning the design and installation of equipment to screen all
luggage, allowing airports the time to integrate the new items. In Europe,
100 percent screening began in 2002.

But there are also differences on the human level, officials say.

Travelers say they appreciate the little touches, like the sandals provided
at Shanghai's airport after mandatory shoe removal.

In Europe, security personnel have been trained to be courteous, and there
is continuous training to keep their skills sharp.

In the United States, courtesy training has been an afterthought, often
imposed after public relations disasters such as the recent controversy over
pat-downs of women's breasts.

"They've always been very polite, very smiley," said Coralie Bouffard, a
22-year-old Web master, after passing through security at Charles de Gaulle
International Airport near Paris.

Many airports in Europe "make sure their screeners take a two-week course
called 'security with a smile,' which encourages security personnel to
behave as part of the airport customer service team, rather than as cops,"
said a senior international security official who asked not to be identified
because of the sensitivity of his position. "The entire feel at most
European airports is that screening personnel are professional and
vigilant."

This is often not the case in the United States, where many passengers have
complained recently about feeling arbitrarily singled out by screeners. 

Anju Ali, a newspaper editor from India who is living in Wisconsin, says she
is often pulled aside and given a more thorough search than other passengers
during airport screenings in the United States.

"I was told by one security agent that I get this special treatment because
'some people with your last name have done some pretty bad things,"' she
said.

In Europe, by contrast, she is not treated differently from other
passengers, she said. And in India, she is put through the same procedure as
everyone else: those chosen for extra screening are taken to a curtained
booth where a screener runs the metal-detecting wand over her body.

The different approaches to security inside and outside the United States
leave many passengers stumped.

Why, for example, is a passenger in New York asked to remove her suit jacket
and walk through the metal detector in a camisole when in Copenhagen she can
pass through with a thick sweater and long coat on?

Why does the U.S. Transportation Security Administration make passengers
take their laptops out of their bags, but most other countries do not? Is
one system more safe than the other?

Not necessarily, says Anthony Concil, the spokesman for the International
Air Transport Association, which represents the world's major airlines.

"Security, in order to be effective, doesn't need to be inconvenient,"
Concil said. "Airports in Europe and Asia were built to take security
considerations into their architecture."

In the United States, in contrast, he said, long lines often build up at
airports because newly installed screening equipment is located near
check-in counters, with passengers having to bring their suitcases to the
screening machine themselves.

The more relaxed environment at European airports does not please everyone.
A businessman at the Paris airport who gave his name only as Bruno said he
was puzzled as to why on some days there were multiple identity checks,
while on others he showed his identity card only once before boarding.

"Sometimes I think the controls are a bit light," he said.

Richardson, the frequent flier, said that the authorities in the United
States should realize that no amount of security is foolproof.

"We can have all of the security in the world and risk will still exist,"
Richardson said. "In many parts of the world, security is sane and I think
they realize there is only so much you can do."

Like many other travelers, Richardson has found that the U.S. approach to
airport security also involves fear. He agreed to comment for this article
on condition that his home state not be mentioned.

"I'd hate to find myself on a government watch list for my comments," he
said, "but these days, you just never know."


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