Behavior Detection Officers Keeping A Watchful Eye On Airports

Although you probably couldn’t spot one of the if you tried, chances are they spotted you if you were exhibiting suspicious behavior in one of over 160 U.S airports.

To identify dangerous people, the Transportation Security Administration has stationed specially trained Behavior Detection Officers at 161 U.S. airports, including Miami and Fort Lauderdale. The officers, who can be anywhere from the parking garage to the gate, try to spot passengers with an unusual level of nervousness or stress.

They don’t focus on a person’s nationality, race, ethnicity or gender, said Sari Koshetz, spokeswoman for the TSA.

“We’re not looking for a type of person but at behaviors,” she said.

The program started in Boston in 2003; expanded to Miami in 2006 and then to Fort Lauderdale in 2007. The TSA won’t disclose whether detection officers roam Palm Beach International Airport.

Under the program, a suspicious passenger might be given a secondary screening or referred to police; detection officers don’t have arrest powers.

Last year, officers nationwide required 98,805 passengers to undergo additional screening. Police questioned 9,854 of them; 813 were arrested.

While the TSA doesn’t break down the numbers for individual airports, the officers require dozens of travelers in Miami and Fort Lauderdale to undergo a secondary screening each week.

via Airport officers covertly keep an eye out for suspicious behavior — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

LAX Flight Aborts Takeoff Due To Suspicious Behavior

UPDATE: The FBI has determined that a passenger removed from the United Airlines flight this morning posed no “identifiable threat” to the plane or its passengers and officials do not expect to file criminal charges.

This may not be as serious as first thought. An NBC news report includes a conversation with one of the passengers aboard the plane.

“The gentleman said he had to go to the bathroom and that he couldn’t wait,” a passenger said. “The pilot said somebody is ill. We were just about to take off.”

Passenger Charlie Rosene was seated two rows behind a passenger that was removed from the plane.

“I was sitting in Row 25, the first guy who was taken off was in Row 23,” said Rosene at about 11:30 a.m. “It was 30 seconds before takeoff, and he jumped out of his seat and said, ‘I need to go to the bathroom. I need to go to the bathroom.’ The flight attendant called that out and saw that as a red flag. He said, ‘I’m going.’”

Rosene said the passenger was in the restroom for about 30 seconds. He said the man returned to his seat.

Source

Waiting for additional details.

From The LA Times

The Los Angeles Times is reporting a plane was stopped from taking off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and two men on board were taken into custody, according to the LAPD.

According to the report, LAPD Lt. John Romero said the men, who appeared to be of Middle Eastern descent, were acting suspiciously.

A law enforcement source said at least one of the men ran into a restroom on the plane and appeared to hide while the New York-bound jet was taxiing on the runway, according to the source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.

The flight crew confronted the two men and made the decision to stop the plane before it took off, the source said. The men were taken into custody by heavily armed law enforcement officials.

The plane has been taken to a remote area of the airport to be searched by a bomb squad, sources said.

Source

Passengers report that United Flight 22 was about to take off when a man in row 23 leapt up, stating he needed to go to the bathroom. Passenger Charlie Rosene says the man ran to the bathroom despite a flight attendant’s orders to sit down. The pilot returned the plane to the gate where the man and his companion were taken off the flight for questioning, and the plane was searched.

Source

United Airlines Flight 22 was bound for Cairo with a scheduled stop at JFK International Airport in New York.

Police Investigate Men Taking Pictures Along SEPTA Route

Police Investigate Men Taking Pictures Along SEPTA Route – Philadelphia A heightened state of alert has resulted in a substantial increase in tips and sightings of suspicious activity across the country. One report that is causing concern in Philadelphia is that of men taking pictures on the Broad Street subway line in South Philadelphia, twice in the past two days. Police are investigating and looking at video that was captured in at least one of the events.

From Philly 57 News

On Wednesday, a SEPTA cashier told officers about a man taking pictures at the Lombard-South station, but the man, after being questioned by the cashier about his activities, left before officers arrived.

On Tuesday, officers received a report of a male taking pictures in the track area at the Snyder Avenue station.

So far, neither male has been identified, although Philadelphia Police officials say the two separate incidents have no link to any terrorist activities.

While police have video of the man who they are hoping to interview from the Snyder Avenue Station incident, there is no video of the second man because cameras at the Lombard-South station, and at three of six SEPTA subway stations in South Philadelphia, are covered and not yet working.

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