I wrote this in the heat of the moment; I am sure I do not understand the
complexity many of the issues involved...would like other's opinions.
I have had my TV set on since yesterday night....and it is ironic that
yesterday evening, I visited two public spaces, and was musing about what a
farce our security systems are in general.
I went to Spar Hypermarket on Bannerghatta Road, and later went to a movie
at the INOX theatre, at the new mall that has come up where Swagath theatre
used to stand.
At both places, visitors had to walk through the usual "electronic arch"
that has become ubiquitous; at the INOX theatre, my handbag was inspected.
But the checks were so extremely cursory, that I could not help thinking
that it would not deter any determined terrorist at all. The security was
nothing but what silklisters have aptly dubbed as "security theatre"....a
farce, an acting out of various steps that are supposed to be done, totally
half-heartedly.
Another factor which I find too often is that the security guards (surely,
an underpaid and undertrained lot..more about this later) have a weakness
for what they perceive to be figures of authority, power or money. Perhaps,
bitter experiences have taught them to respect such figures, as the reprisal
from such figures, when crossed, can be very harsh, especially in our land
of inequality. So, when a person is well-dressed, and exudes an aura of
wealth, power or just plain purposefulness, s/he is often not challenged at
all. I often find that the meek, far from inheriting the earth, spend the
longest at security queues.
Security agencies are under pressure to provide people, and it is not
uncommon for these guards to work for very long hours, with continuous
shifts at different locations. Most security guard positions were...well,
until recently, perhaps...thought of as soft jobs, and there is a huge
demand-supply gap, with the security agencies getting away with paying as
little as they can. I still fail to see how an underpaid, undertrained,
physically frail guard, who has been on duty already for several hours (or
shifts) can be effective in any way whatsoever.
The corruption in our police and security forces exacts its own penalties of
the value of the security provided. Very often, security guards are in
closest contact with criminals...and the insidious nexus develops. I often
find police constables or security guards obsequious towards politicians of
people of power, and domineering and bullying, and incredibly senseless in
enforcing stupid and irrational rules, with the general public.
Indeed, it has been my observation that in movie theatres, at least at the
Forum, the security guards seem to be more keen to screen any food or drink
carried by moviegoers rather than anything else. Food is confiscated so that
patrons have to buy the incredibly expensive and shoddy, fat-rich snacks
that are sold inside the theatres. It's a racket.
It was also a matter of record that after the bombings at IISc, the security
measures were as lackadaisical as before within the space of a week. The
blasts at various places in Bangalore is almost a forgotten event in the
very-short public memory.
It's an invariable rule that the terrorist or the
security-breacheridentifies a loophole in the security arrangements,
and it's the innocent
who have to bear the brunt of later security measures, while the criminal
merrily goes on to something else! The terrorist may develop a bomb with
some new material and walk through, while the security guard is throwing out
my moisturising lotion and making me go barefoot at every security check.
So...how do we tackle this very difficult problem? Profiling is one answer
that the Americans seem to have come up with; I don't know how effective
it's been, but having been on the receiving end (on one trip to the US, I
had that dreaded quadruple S ("SSSS") stamped on my boarding cards on 12
consecutive flights, and was subjected to "random" intense screening, until
I wrote an email to the Airports Authority...and I was spared further
misery.)I can say that for the innocent person, such measures are an intense
harassment at worst, an irritation at best, and a tremendous waste of time
and resources. But...can security measures be avoided altogether? No, of
course not; we are dealing with ruthless people, who, in the very nature of
things, know what they can get away with, when, and how.
This, I think, is the true evil effect of terrorism; they need not even kill
anyone.... they can just make it hellish for common people to use public
spaces and public transport, and slow up the system to the point of chaos.
Security, I think, will, for one thing, always lag behind the ingenuity of
the determined criminal, and also almost never be preventive, except in rare
instances that cannot be publicized because the successful security measure
often has to be one that cannot be talked about. No security organization
can talk about the coups or terror attacks that have been prevented; they
can only be publicly associated with their failures. A truly demotivating
factor for security agencies.
Security, alas, is also only as good as the weakest link in the security
chain, and the terrible truth is that the terrorist or the criminal has to
be lucky only once, where the security agencies must be lucky again and
again in their preventive measures.
A very knotty problem, and one that I am unable to find any kind of
sustainable solution to, though I keep thinking about it.... I would like to
initiate a dialogue between common citizens and the members of the police
force or other security agencies, to see how best we can tackle this
particularly insidious evil.
