Category:Airport Security

I stood in line patiently waiting to check by luggage in to Delta airlines. I had never flown before and like many other individuals I was putting my life into the hands of those in charge of security and my pilots. While standing in line I thought of everything that could go wrong. I am usually not a pessimistic person, but now days you cannot even trust your own neighbor. I carefully examined everyone around me to see if there was any “unusual behavior,” and I saw none. This eased my worries. As we made our way to the security check area I noticed that there were many security guards walking around eyeing everyone up. How can you distinguish a terrorist from an “ordinary” person? I was hoping that these individuals knew how for my own sake. I approached the X-Ray machine and placed my bag along with my camera and shoes into this big box. I then had to walk through a metal detector. Luckily I didn’t beep. I then was allowed to pick up my belongings. As I waited for my fellow classmates, I noticed that most of the time the person in charge of screening the items passing through the X-Ray was not paying attention to the screen. This alarmed me because I thought that these individuals were specifically trained to distinguish bomb materials. If these individuals were not doing their job, then who was protecting me and the many hundreds of thousands of flyers that go through this airport everyday? This event helped me to decide on what paper topic I would do for my final project. Airport security is on many flyers’ minds as of late. With so many delays and security breaches, how can one feel safe while flying? Many people think that airport security should be safer now than it was before September 11, 2008. In some aspects we are safer than in the past, but we still have some things to work on in order to protect all flyers. The history of airport security dates back to the early 70’s. People say that the infamous D.B. Cooper was the one who according to David Krajick, author of The D.B. Cooper Story: A Mystery, "helped rally critical support for sweeping air travel security iniative, including passenger screenings (http://www.crimelibrary.com/criminal_mind/scams/DB_Cooper/index.html)." Prior to this event any deranged person carrying any weapon could walk on an airplane without being screened without having any problems