See Something, Say Something

How many times have people snickered at those ubiquitous post-9/11 posters in New York City proclaiming, “See Something, Say Something”?  Well, no one’s snickering now.  Two T-shirt vendors in Times Square have proven the importance of those four little words.  Two working people saved the day by noticing something unusual and immediately telling a police officer. So Homeland Security, TSA and all the security forces at the airports can only do so much. But security at our airports and on our aircraft depends just as much — maybe more — on the everyday workers on the ramp who know if something is just not right. It’s their trained and experienced eyes and ears that are in many ways a first line of defense for airport security. Which brings me to challenging people on the ramp without IDs showing.  For some reason, many ramp workers are hesitant to question people in secured areas without their badges visible. Sure, often they know the person or they’ve seen them on the ramp and they don’t want to make a fuss or get involved in an altercation. Sometimes it may even be their bosses who are ignoring basic security requirements. But a simple measure to increase security for everyone is to make challenging people without visible ID the norm.