"IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING Being cautious in these here dangerous times. by Laura Fredericks queenofcyberspace.com Last updated April 22, 2011 10:37:44AM CDT You can't watch the news or read the paper of late without learning about yet another group of privacy advocates making a fuss over the new airport body scanners and pat-downs. These new enhanced security measures were put into place for a reason: TO PROTECT US. Why are people making such a big deal about it? SAMPLE BODY SCAN FROM TSA WEBSITE ACTUAL BODY SCAN I would much prefer to walk through a scanner then get a pat-down. And since the scanner images aren't seen by other people waiting in line -- only by a TSA agent -- I really don't care. Your face is blurred! Can you identify this person from this scan? Seriously?! As for enhanced pat-downs, no I wouldn't WANT one. Next time I fly I will be extra-careful not to do or say anything stupid that could cause me to be selected. But if I'm *randomly* selected, oh well. You could ask for one in private, which is what I'd do if I got selected. And I'd do exactly what the TSA agent told me to do. Same logic as "do what the nice police officer tells you to do". Do people seriously believe that TSA agents care about THEIR body? They're PROFESSIONALS. Don't you think they're just as uncomfortable AS YOU ARE during these enhanced pat-downs? I suppose these conspiracists ALSO believe that DOCTORS enjoy giving their female patients breast exams and male patients testicle exams. Really?! They're PROFESSIONALS. All it takes is just one person to make it on a plane with a bomb, then KA-BOOM! In this litigious society people would sue and blame the airline for inadequate security. Double-edge sword, ya know? (Weapon analogy on purpose.) You won't believe what I saw at a government office! I only wish this government agency had such a security system in place. Or at least metal detectors, like the NYC courthouses have. METAL DETECTOR EASY-CUT UTILITY KNIFE In one of the waiting rooms there was young gal, between 18-21 years-old, sitting patiently with everyone else. She was very pretty, had expensive-looking long hair extensions, her makeup and nails were perfect, and she was model-thin. She certainly didn't look "dangerous". We were sitting catty-cornered and I glanced at her waistband and noticed she was wearing a tethered box cutter. I never saw one of these before. It's a standard box cutter tethered to a holster by a curly-cord, which is attached to your belt or pants with a belt clip, like a mobile phone holster. It's called the Easy-Cut Utility Knife and it's made by a company in Chicago named LabelMaster. Several years ago NYC enacted a law that required shopkeepers to keep box cutters BEHIND the counter, not accessible in the aisle. Why? BECAUSE BOX CUTTERS COULD BE USED AS WEAPONS! And here was this young gal WEARING ONE ON HER WAISTBAND IN A HOLSTER, like a cop wears his gun. Even if she worked as a stock girl at the supermarket (though she didn't look the part -- too thin), Why was she WEARING IT to a government office??!! If she were "one of the dangerous ones" she could have easily attacked someone. And what would the (minimum-wage outsourced) security guards have done, anyway? Probably just told her to leave -- though they could have called the police, because it's illegal in NYC to carry a box cutter in public. N.Y. ADC. LAW § 10-134.1 : NY Code - Section 10-134.1: Prohibition on sale of box cutters to persons under twenty-one years of age, open displays of box cutters by sellers and possession of box cutters in a public place [...] And, if the gal WAS a supermarket or drugstore shelf stocker she certainly would've admitted it, said she was on her way to work and scream she was being "profiled". Civil rights, ya know? Better call the American Civil Liberties Union! So as concerned citizens, what should we do? Do we call the police every time we see a maintenance person wearing a utility belt with a hammer? Do we call the police every time we see someone in a softball uniform carrying a baseball bat? Do we call the police every time we see someone holding a pencil?  ACTUAL CHILD VICTIM OF A PENCIL-IN-THE-EYE STABBING After all, a pencil could be used to stab someone in the eye! So what do we ALWAYS do in the above situations? Nothing. Because unless somebody looks and acts scary and deranged like our friend, Leatherface we always look the other way. THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE'S LEATHERFACE In retrospect, I should have told one of the security guards about the gal with the box cutter. Haven't I seen enough of these posters plastered all over the New York City subways and buses? Shame on me. I'm still angry at myself! What if this gal really did plan to doing something?! This WAS a government office! A few years ago I saw an unattended suitcase on a local city bus. This wasn't long after the "If you SEE something, SAY something" media campaign started. I told the driver, but he didn't seem too concerned. "If it's my time to go, then it's my time to go", was his nonchalant response. Myself and the other passengers were shocked! I pointed to the sign and said, "That may be YOUR attitude, but it's NOT OURS!" He finally pulled over, called the bus depot and let us off to wait for the next bus. I was really angry, and when I got home I called the bus company to complain. Since I didn't hear anything about it in the news, I'm guessing a passenger mistakenly left his or her suitcase on the bus. I've always been one of those people who thinks the best of others. She really looked like the sweet, girl-next-door type. And she was as pretty as a model! Nice girls can't be dangerous! Aren't the innocent-looking ones always the ones who can travel under-the-radar, because they look, well, INNOCENT? Sigh... Guess I'm guilty of profiling, too.

people will now SAY something, if they ever SEE something.