Profiling tourists: promoting safety or perpetuating stereotypes?

Abstract:
This paper looks into the issues that have arisen in recent years in regards to the security method know as Profiling. There are those that believe it is more focussed on stereotyping rather than promoting the safety of travellers.

Key words: Racial, Security, Race, USA, Safety, Stereotypes, Profiling

After the attacks taken out on the United States trade centre in 2001, the security measures in place to aid in the protection of travellers has increased dramatically. These new measures have come under fire due to the nature in which they pick out potential threats. A screening process known as Profiling, assesses the likelihood of persons being a threat. After the wake of 9/11 new criteria was added to the different profiling methods used in various locations that see mass amounts of travellers, such as airports and borders crossings. This paper looks into whether these security measures are promoting safety or perpetuating stereotypes.

With theses new security criteria in place it has also meant a further restrictions for those who try to obtain visas to enter certain countries. For example according to Lai, Chinese tourists find it difficult to obtain a visa one of the biggest issues when travelling to the USA (Lai, 2013). This is due to the number of background checks that are done by the US government for those wishing to visit. One of the main issues that have arisen with these new criteria is the way in which they can be perceived as stereotypical. One example of this is a profiling criteria used by German authorities after 9/11, which listed the following as things to look for in potential threats: Nationality of country on a list of 26 countries with a predominantly Muslim population/or stateless person/or nationality ‘undefined’ or ‘unknown’, Muslim, and male (Ojanen, 2010). From this example it can be seen that in order to pick out potential threats the criteria relies on very broad factors that have been commented on being based on stereotypes.

This has then been related to the ignoring of human rights by governments that have implemented these new laws and legislations. Sluka has stated that governments are “using terrorism as an excuse to trample human rights” (Sluka, 2008). As after the 9/11 attacks governments the world over created new strategies to deal with potential terrorists, which infringed on basic human rights. There are those who argue that the reasoning behind these stereotypes is due to public opinion Reiman looks at a situation in which two different societies; one that do apply racism and the other that does, deals with the situation of a crime, in this particular article :Reiman comes to the conclusion the racial profiling comes from the racial discrimination that occurs in crimes and arrests (Reiman, 2011). Thus showing that public opinion comes from the way in which crimes and arrests are portrayed by the social services that publish crime rates.

Although all this security is said to be for the benefit of travellers safety, it does cause travel to be disrupted with massive delays being caused due to these security checks. It is a constant struggle for security services of major transport locations to uphold the security while allowing for the smooth flow of travellers. Some of these security agencies have come under scrutiny due to the caring out of methods used at airports, one example is the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) in the USA. Ever since the introduction of the USA PATRIOT Act after 9/11 which granted the TSA new powers in terms of the security they could apply to airports around the US. These new powers have been seen to cause “unnecessary delays and examinations prompted by loose directives and unconstitutional prejudices” (Kleiner, 2010). Klenier discusses the issues that have arisen since the TSA have introduced these new security measures, in particular the racial aspect of security measures that are used.

This discussion paper comes to the conclusion that the current security measures that are in place such as Profiling, due to the racial issues that are raised by this practice. The main issue is that the line between safety and stereotyping is very blurred, without the use of stereotyping there is the potential of safety being compromised, whereas with the current safety procedures that are in place it is difficult not to stereotype, due to the actions of others in the past. It is clear that a new method of screening travellers needs to be introduced that takes out the stereotypical nature of profiling and at the same time ensures the safety of travellers journey.


Kleiner, S, Y. (2010) Racial Profiling in the name of national security: Protecting minority travelers’ civil liberties in the age of terrorism. Boston College Third World Law Journal, 30 (1) 103-144.

Ojenan, T. (2010) Terrorist profiling: Human rights concerns. Critical Studies on Terrorism, 3 (2) 295-312.

Larson, G. (2010) Moments and Milestones: Perfecting the People Filter [Online] Washington DC: Air and Space Smithsonian. Available from: http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/moments-and-milestones-perfecting-the-people-filter-1490080/?no-ist [Accessed on April 20th 2014].

I chose this paper is because I agree it could be argued that where there is profiling this could also be construed as stereotyping.
When certain ethnic groups, such as those who attacked the Trade Centre commit the same crimes over and over, measures have to be taken as the author states where security is said to be for the benefit of the traveller’s safety.
Profiling is a science based study of prior actions of similar crimes and criminals and as the author states is a screening process the government use to assess the likelihood of persons being a threat. In contrast, stereotyping can be defined as widespread fixed form perceptions about for example certain individuals or groups, race or religion.
Stereotypes are created all over the world in almost every society. The problem is for such as the Muslim population, it was the Taliban, an Islamic fundamentalist political movement who carried out the 9/11 attacks and many Muslims complain that most Taliban rules have no basis in the Qur'an or sharia.
Unfortunately and in agreement with the author, one of the main issues with profiling and the new criteria since the 9/11 attacks is the way in which for example Muslims can be perceived as stereotypical. The author has quite clearly found evidence of this and argues that the criterion for profiling consists of a list of things to look for in potential threats which includes countries with predominantly Muslim population (Ojanen, 2010).
The author discusses further negative impacts of profiling for example, research found that Chinese tourists now find it to obtain a visa when travelling to the USA due to the number of background check being done by the US governments. This seems unfair and in agreement with the author’s research believe that human rights actually are being ignored and further agree that governments are ‘using terrorism as an excuse to trample on human rights’.
To conclude, a very interesting paper discussing strategies which deal with potential terrorists for the benefit of the tourist’s safety. However, these strategies may also overstep human rights. So, and in agreement with the author, there is an overlap between profiling for safety and stereotyping. Furthermore, I also agree it is difficult not to stereotype whilst profiling because of racial discrimination. So if new measures were to be introduced as stated by the author, there would need to be sensitive strategies for implementation.

Ojenan T. (2010) Terrorist Profiling: Human Rights Concerns, Critical Studies on Terrorism, 3(2) pp295-312
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