A program at Boston's Logan International Airport that is intended to identify potential terrorists based on the mannerisms of a passenger, has led to racial profiling alleges TSA officers.
According to the New York Times the TSA said that it is investigating the officers claims and that officers said that their co-workers were targeting minorities believing that this would lead to drug arrests and immigration issues, in response to manager at the airport who wanted a high number of searches and stops.
"The behavior detection program is no longer a behavior-based program, but it is a racial profiling program," one officer wrote in an anonymous complaint according to The New York Times.
32 TSA officers have come forth and said that blacks, Hispanics and people of Middle Eastern origin are being targeted.
The program which is intended for officers to stop and search passengers who seem suspicious with trained "assessors" that include everything from inconsistincies in passengers responses to questions and mannerisms such as fidgeting or avoiding eye contact.
The new regulations have caused passengers who felt they were inappropriately searched to file complaints. Kenneth Boatner, a black educational consultant and psychologist who was going to Atlanta for business said he was detained for nearly a half hour while agents looked through is bags, checkbook and clinical notes of his patients.
Boatner said to The New York Times that officers never explained why they were doing this and that he felt humiliated. He stated that he suspected it was because of his race and the way he was dressed-in sweat pants, high top sneakers and a white t-shirt.
The TSA said that the program does not encourage or tolerate profiling. "If any of these claims prove accurate, we will take immediate and decisive action to ensure there are consequences to such activity," TSA said in a statement.
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