- The new body scanners are currently on trial at Manchester, but Heathrow will be the first to have them permanently. Picture: AP Photo/Cynthia Boll
JERSEY Airport officials will have the final say over whether full body scanners are to be introduced in the Island.
If such a scanner is brought in, it is likely that Islanders will have to pay more for airline tickets because fares may rise to cover the costs of the machine.
In the wake of the Christmas Day syringe bomb plot on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit, UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave the go-ahead earlier this week for the £80,000 scanners to be implemented in UK airports.
But the politician in charge of Jersey’s aviation, Senator Paul Routier, said that Jersey Airport officials would make their own decision over whether to bring in the scanners.
‘We will have to make a judgment purely for Jersey,’ he said. ‘We have our own government and we can make our own decisions.’
The new body scanners are currently on trial at Manchester, but Heathrow will be the first to have them permanently
Jersey Airport terminal and security services manager Steve Read said that the cost of the scanners could be passed on to airlines which may, as a result, increase their fares.
‘Some governments will pay for the scanners as part of border controls, but the British government and Jersey’s government take the view that the industry pays,’ Mr Read said.
‘The Airport will provide the service but the cost will be borne by the travelling public through an increase in security charges added to their ticket price.’
The scanners are currently on trial at Manchester Airport but Heathrow – the world’s busiest international airport – will be the first to have them permanently.
Their use has sparked controversy in the UK among child protection campaigners, who claim that the scanners amount to ‘virtual strip-searching’. They argue that the scanners threaten to breach child protection laws whereby any creation of an indecent or naked image of a child is a criminal offence.
Both Mr Read and Senator Routier said that at this stage, it was not known whether Jersey would need to operate a scanner because they may only be needed in airports which operate US-bound flights.
‘I cannot say yet if Jersey will get one,’ said Senator Routier. ‘It’s still early days. We will have to look at it. If they became an internationally accepted standard, then naturally we would follow suit.’
Full body scanners reveal naked images of passengers, including their genitals and even breast enlargements.
Passengers also pass through a metal detector check before they can board their plane.
Airport officials say that the scanner image is only seen by a single security officer in a remote location before it is deleted.
Although Gordon Brown has given the go-ahead for the scanners as a result of the Christmas Day bomb plot, experts claim that a full body scan would not have picked up the syringe bomb used by Umar Abdulmutallab.
Now that child protection campaigners have called for safeguards to protect the privacy of passengers, UK politicians may have to exempt under-18s from the scans or introduce new legislation to ensure that airport security staff do not commit offences under child pornography laws.
Article posted on 6th January, 2010 - 2.56pm
48 Article Comments
And when these are curcumvented by “terrorists” What next ? total undressing to get through security.
This is needless knee jerk reaction to a failing in american “intelligence” (excuse the pun….
And as if the fares are not too expensive already…..
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What makes me laugh is that you can fly to the UK from Jersey with BA showing only a credit card as your proof of ID, yet the Jersey government is considering purchasing an £80,000 full body scanner, doesn’t make sense to me.
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A weak link in defence from these people would soon be found, if they do become standard would you like our airport on a lift of ‘airports without scanners?’. I would say go with the majority regardless of cost, it is after all only for our own safety!
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Surely a risk assessment would indicate that we are not a target for international terrorism……my bet is we can live without them.
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These have not been ‘proven safe’ yet either, yes im worried about being reveiled on a screen but i am just as concerned in my health, pregnant women for example – this could be damaging to a baby. jersey is more worried about costs and not our health.
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If they are only 80k each then why dont our government pay for them otherwise prices will go up to cover the cost of the machine but wont necessarily go back down again when the cost is recovered. Its already expensive to fly out of here
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What have the ‘Child Protection Mafia got in mind now? I’ve worked as security officer at Gatwick. One, child buggies pushchairs etc are searched whilist the child is removed. Children under three are physically frisked by female oficers. Any child above three but under sixteen are frisced, with parent’s permission and in their presence by an officer of the same sex. The parent may refuse. In which case they aren’t flying. When the subject is about fourteen or fifteen, I would always say to them, ‘I know you are really old enough to make your own decision, but I must ask your parents’. Belive me when you have forty five minutes to check three hundred odd people and their hand baggage for an flight, sex is the last thing on your mind.
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The general public (sheep),need to wake up and realize that their civil liberties are being taken away with no objection.
I cannot understand how any responsible parent would alow their child to be scanned for someone to view and possibily record.
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as if a terrorist would come to jersey, they would die of boredom before they completed any mission..joking aside. getting of this cesspit is allready over in flated. whilst i am all for security the cost of these scanners and the person to operate it will soon break even with the hike in a security charge so will the security charge be lowered accordingly…seeing as this is jersey…i very much doubt it…we get robbed every time we open our wallets over here
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“it is likely that Islanders will have to pay more for airline tickets because fares may rise to cover the costs of the machine”.
I would have thought that is a fact that everybody would understand.
Eventually, everything in life is paid for by the ultimate consumer.
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Cause it would mean an increase in fares…this is jersey …any excuse!
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I agree with Truthseeker, I really don’t think Jersey would ever be targeted by terrorists – one look at the island and the way it is run and they would realise that we have done a good enough job of ruining the island all by ourselves!!
And a suggestion for the child protection campaigners – give it a break please – for goodness sake!! There’s a limit!
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Diane and Truthseeker
How about thinking a little further than Jersey? If these screens are put in place the demand for them will come from the UK and not from Jersey. Like you say Jersey is of no interest to terrorists and does not need them. However the UK government do not want someone hijacking a plane from Jersey and crashing it into the UK. Obviously we could refuse to put them in but then the UK would just prevent us from entering their airspace. That’s where the choice lies.
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Let’s get real for just a minute. Child safety is not an issue here, your child is most at risk from abuse with family and friends. That’s fact. So unless you prevent your child from going near family and friends it’s a bit odd to suggest they are at risk from the person seeing the image who, even more than a doctor, will be seeing the same thing day in, day out and will simply not care that you are ‘naked’.
Actually, I’d be interested to know how much paedophilia, or other type of sexual assault, there is in those countries where tribal people are practically naked all the time, maybe it is the British attitude towards the body that is causing the problem.
I’m not saying I like the idea of it but I agree with Diane #12 that the child protection campaigners can go a bit too far.
There is no more issue with a child being seen by a scanner than there is for an adult being seen by it. At least the child will care less.
As for people recording it… there isn’t actually any need is there? So just ensure that the few people that will see the image do not enter the security area with a mobile phone or other photographic recording device! It’s not exactly rocket science. A photo should not be needed even for in a trial since you’ll be searched and the offending item will be identified.
Do we need one in Jersey? No. Do we need one anywhere? Not really, it is the higher levels of security that are failing us the most i.e. immigration checks etc etc. Get that sorted out and we wouldn’t have a problem.
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#9 – Internet Shopper- if the Island really is a cesspit, why don’t u jump on a plane and leave!!
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Seriously? At the moment i can fly from Jersey to the UK with british airways just entering my reference number. No one asked for ID, no one checked my passport.
I could have been a person on a list of those not allowed to fly and no one would have even known. My ID probably wasn’t checked because as people were only discussing the other day Jersey apparantly isn’t a terror threat…
So which is it?
Surely if there is a risk posed we should be tightening up on the above first before we bring in two £80k machines that might not even be safe.
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Why is there still a total obsession with security at airports and for those boarding aircraft?
The 7th July 2005 terrorist explosions on public transport in London, or the 11th March 2004 bombs on public transport in Madrid can be repeated and repeated, any time and in any place, with no need for the terrorists to pass through any form of security check.
In my opinion we have become subject to a neurosis that terrorists only use aircraft.
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Every time the Police or other law enforcement agency get a conviction it is a victory. everytime something goes wrong, in this case a bomb on an aircraft, Security fails. As to ‘Jersey would never be the subject of a terroist attck’. Anywhere could be subject to a terrorist attack. What good security produces is , nothing. Because if you get it right nothing happens. Terrorists are not stupid. The IRA were prouding Rocket Proppeled Shaped charge grenades for a couple of quid in back yard workshops, the same performace cost the British Army millions to develop and thousands to build. Unfortunatley is is almost impossible to prove nothing happned, because the perpertrators thought ’security to good, let’s find an easier target or it just wasn’t going to happen. what do you want to bet your life on?
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It would stop drugs coming into the island,or at least help.no more mules coming into the island with drugs hidden on their body.that machine would pay for its self very quickly.
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As usual the public are paying with their time and their privacy due to failures at the top. Some of these failures are due to the public’s need to cry about every citizen’s ‘human rights’ and the need for no nationality to be banned from Britain. It’s all very PC but it’s rather naive.
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Lets think outside the box here.
I would imagine most teenagers now days would like a copy of th eimage for their facebook profile image.
From what I see they basically post half naked pictures of themselfs anyway.
The Airport could raise money buy offering the person that walks through the scanner the chance to buy a copy of the image…..
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I have to agree with ‘Skeptic’ {#1).
I would also say that it’s quite clear that the authorities are manipulating the fear of terrorism to ram through erosions of civil rights while also providing a nice little earner for the security/military technology sectors.
The Detroit incident is being used as an excuse to introduce body scanners even though they would not have made a great deal of difference because
a) they would not probably not have detected the explosives used
and
b) existing security procedures were apparently ignored as the alleged bomber travelled without a passport and was put onto the plane by an accomplice. For some reason this has not been widely reported. (google ‘Kurt Haskell’ to find out what I mean).
Already there is talk of even more intrusive devices that can perform virtual cavity searches…where does this end?
Along with the increasing prevalence of biometric identity cards, RFID, facial recognition technology, the consolidation of seperate databases etc, these scanners represent a gradual erosion of individual privacy so that one day the authorities will be able to track your movemants and activities. Where you have been, who you associate with, will all be on file.
And before anyone says this is all science fiction, much of this technology is already being put to use in China to keep the lid on that country’s social tensions as it goes through its own industrial revolution.
Of course we will be told that we need this technology to keep us safe from terrorists and criminals, but the potential for abuse in this transfer of power upwards is clear. Access to employment, public transport and healthcare could be made conditional on the possession of an identity card, which could then be withdrawn whenever an individual incurred official displeasure. It would be a wonderful means of coercion for bullies and would be dictators.
And imagine how much fun our local bureaucrats would have under such a system?
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I’m getting a bit confused abiout the Human Rights issue here. surley the greatest Human Right is the right to LIFE? A minority for reasons known to themselves have decided that total strangers have no right to life. There is no rhyme or reason in their targetting. I have proudly worn Her Majesty’s uniform. If you want to try and come after me, go for it, I’m ready. No these people decide to hit those with whom they have no argument and no means of defence. Terrorism is to produce Terror, total unreasonable fear so that they get their way. It is nothing to do with ‘Those at the top’. I don’t like like a lot of things but I don’t kill the innocent. democracy isn’t perfect, but its the best we have. If you think a full body scanner ‘Impinges your rights, don’t travel, or better still take it up with those who have caused the nessicity in the first place.
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Scott 21
Offering scanner images sounds like a great way to raise money, I’ll certainly buy mine…but I want it ‘airbrushed’ first!
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Micro chipping us all will be the next move unless we make a stand against these loonies in the UK.
We are going further and further into a statsi state.
When will plebs say enough is enough.
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We have created the ‘terroist threat’by our disgraceful behaviour in both Iraq and Afghanistan, now we are paying the price. Our governments can rule us by fear and implement any kind of law and gadjet to curtail our freedom.
The real menace comes from within, in the form of our friendly local politician.
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lets just all travel naked!!! would be much more fun!!!
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bella
wrote:
“Micro chipping us all will be the next move unless we make a stand against these loonies in the UK.”
Have a look at http://www.no2id.net, Bella.
They are saying that the Home Office plan a new condition of applying for a passport from 2011 or 2012 will be that you also agree to be listed on the ID database. If you refuse, no passport.
If Jersey remains outside this development expect a new industry for the island, Passport Tourism.
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#26
Agree.
UK was a safe place before their leader decided to help USA to invade another country which was no threat at all to us.
The black gold was more important than our safety.
We are now paying the price for their folly
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Jon Mon V! As I’ve said ealier, I’ve worked at Gatwick doing security. Belive me friscking some twenty stone sweaty oik is not a job for the faint hearted, let alone all the swaeaty shoes! No, Whilist your idea might have some merits, (not that I’d fit them.) I think the scanner is the best idea.
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#27 John I reckoned that would be a pretty good way to protest this new scanner, everyone just turn up naked… no security threat there.
#23 Tony, unfortunately what you say is true. Parents are forcing everyone that is not a parent to be automatically considered a paedophile until proven otherwise. Now the silly thing is that most paedophiles ARE parents! My personal opinion is that parents are simply too scared to admit to the reality that the biggest threat is within their own family, this makes them feel helpless. They want to feel like they are doing something so they are targetting everybody outwith their own family and it (wrongly) makes them feel a bit safer.
I can understand that they feel a bit helpless, but logic and reason needs to take precedence here and it isn’t! Knee-jerk, overly-emotional responses are now being allowed to ruin life for the rest of us. It’s pathetic and it really is time we made a stand against it.
I do speak as someone that was the victim of a paedophile!
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#28
Scary stuff.
Makes you wonder how far they will go to “protect”
us.
#Born warrior hope you had a good break.
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Bella 32.
Yes I did Bella, thanks! Snow always brings out the child in me, so I really enjoyed myself on the slopes…but it’s oh so hard to go back to being an adult…
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33
Me too.
I don,t need snow to bring out the child in me,have never really grown up as my 2 teenage grand kids keep telling me.
I reckon if you act young you are young,do,st matter how many birthdays you have.
The only good thing about growing old is you have a second childhood!If your lucky enough to grow old that is.
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#25 Bella: “Micro chipping us all will be the next move…”
Yeap, its called the Swine Flu Jab!
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Leah, thank you for your comment. I truly respect your point of view and admire your courage for making such comments. It is such a shame that people are noe ‘Enemy’ until proven otherwise.
When I was a child and fell over the reaction of all adults was to help, now the reaction, particullaly if you are a man, is walk away!
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Tony B #36
Sad but true.
one has to get a dog nowadays if you dont want your enjoyment of walking to be missunderstood.
If you realy want to help the child that falls over being able to show a warant card from the Honorary Police puts most peoples mind at rest.
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As has been pointed out, Jersey can be an entry point to EU and UK. Not that Jersey is lacking on it’s security. Under International Agrrements Jersey is required to fufill certain basic requirments if it is to operate internationally. I reiterate, if you have a problem with air security, take it with thoses who are the cause of the problem!
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“a warant card from the Honorary Police puts most peoples mind at rest.”
Just make sure that if you print your own it doesn’t say “warant card” or you might get rumbled.
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C Le Verdic #39
Oh dear, I thought the spelling monitor was on holiday.
Please accept my humblest apologies if my typo has caused you so much angst.
Then get a life
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“Please accept my humblest apologies if my typo has caused you so much angst.”
Apologies accepted but not expected. I couldn’t let that that one get by, eh!
It’s a grate larf on hear, PJG, owers of fun two bee had! We all like to take the Markle where the Onnry Pleece are concerned.
Cast off those “half blues” for goodness sake and loosen up Mon Vie.
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C Le Verdic #40
If one gets hours of fun trawling through posts checking spellings so as to stand up and shout looky looky looky, miss, a spelling mistake. IMO that makes one a sad person.
Many people posting on this site may not have had the privilege of such a good education as others, so long as what they intend to say is obviose, “loosen up Mon Vie” and let it pass, nit picking of grammar and spelling only shows one may have the education but nothing of interest to say.
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For goodness sake, PJG. Can’t you see that I was not knocking the spelling but using the opportunity to have a pop at bogus warrant cards.
The type of home made cards that con men use to trick their way into the houses of vulnerable elderly. The type of card flashed at erring motorists by pretend coppers. These cards tend not to pay much attention to detail. Hence:
“Just make sure that if you print your own it doesn’t say “warant card” or you might get rumbled.” (The “you” being “you in general” rather than PJG.)
I used to have a “Birdlay Card” in my wallet when Barclay Cards first appeared. Can’t remember where it came from but it was before the days of “print your own”.
We all make spelling mistakes and typos, epecially when typing into a reply frame on here. My previous post is riddled wiv ‘em!
Usually the mistakes jump up and hit you as soon as you click on “Post Comment”. Many other sites offer a user edit facility for a limited time ater posting. Unfortunately this one doesn’t.
Happily – and this speaks volumes for Jersey education – the standards of submississions on this forum are miles higher than on many other fora.
Thank goodness we don’t get too many “lol”s “IMHO”s and smileys on “You Say”. (Moderators please heed, no rows of animated yellow heads, thanks).
There may well be sad, pedantic spelling monitors lurking but I can assure you that my own pleasure is in reading what others have to say about life in Jersey and also putting in my two penn’orth from time to time.
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C Le Verdic 43.
You say: “Thank goodness we don’t get too many “lol”s “IMHO”s and smileys on “You Say”. (Moderators please heed, no rows of animated yellow heads, thanks).”
Oiy! What’s wrong with ‘rows of animated yellow heads’?
I like them, they’re (or is that there or their?)
my favourite friendly-exclamation marks!
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#43 I thought it was a pop. I was surprised PJG didn’t, he’s usually quite on the ball.
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I’m too old for cute, Leah.
Just seen too many other sites with rows of animated smileys banging their heads against brick walls. I can put up with the odd still one – if you really must!
Has the same effect on me as vocal music in shops I’m afraid. Distracting and unnecessary!!!
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Perhaps due to my own “lacking” education I empathise with similar when I see them attacked on spelling and grammar by “superior” (?)posters.
C Le Verdic #43
“For goodness sake, PJG. Can’t you see that I was not knocking the spelling but using the opportunity to have a pop at bogus warrant cards.”
No.But thanks for the explanation.
Wish I knew how to put a smilly face on here
O O
i
>-<
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“Ladies and gentlemen”
This is your captain.
Welcome to flight 298 non-stop from London to Toronto.
The weather ahead is good so we should have a smooth,uneventful flight,so sit back and “OH MY GOD”
Silence followed.
some moments later the captain came back on the intercom Ladies and Gentlemen,I,m sorry if I scared you.While I was talking to you a flight attendant accidentally spilled a cup of hot coffee in my lap,you should have seen the front of my pants!
“Be Jayus you should see the back of mine” Yelled one Irishman
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