The “compliant bureaucratic” screener makes pumping decisions

By Prof. Alan (Avi) Kirschenbaum*

The most recent case of misplaced security enthusiasm at airport security occurred recently when the breast pump of a nursing mother was labeled a potential threat to air security.

Actually this decision, like many others which are made, fits into a pattern of behavior of security employees that the BEMOSA research project discovered in its search to understand how security decisions are made.

From what we have found, there seems to be clusters of employees who have very similar security decision “profiles” that will predict the degree to which they will comply with the rules and protocols issued by the official agencies involved in airport security.

Fall into the hands of the “compliant bureaucratic” screener and you will have your breast pump removed. But if you encounter an “adaptive employee,” the chances are that she/he will let you through with a smile!

The fact that we are able to distinguish (profile) among employees by the degree they will adhere to or bend the rules has extraordinary consequences for airport management, and especially the level of security required at airports.

For a start, it can be utilized in recruitment of new employees. Do you want to catch the breast pump passenger or be more flexible? Are you aiming to make passengers more “security amiable” or instill fear into them? Do certain areas of airport security require greater rule compliance than others? All these issues are related to the security profile of the employee.

So, with all the arguments about profiling passengers being addressed, it is clear that it also makes a lot of sense to do so when dealing with security employees.

*The writer is the initiator and coordinator of BEMOSA (Behavioral Modeling of Security in Airports).