To frisk or not to frisk?

A lady guard inspects a customer's bag
[Photo from Dutchpickle.com]

One of the things that annoy me to no end when I go to the malls in this country is the frisking that happens upon entering the premises.

Sure, it's a noble cause and it's nice to know that mall administrations show concern over the people's safety by inspecting things that people bring inside their establishments. But frisking only works if it is done properly.

More often than not, however, this act of "checking" customers' bags becomes just formality, for show--with no real purpose, which renders it ineffective and just a waste of time.

[Photo by Petalcorinpolitics.blogspot.com]

In many cases, frisking becomes tricky. Many times, the security guards who check customers' bags barely give a minimal glance; sometimes they poke their sticks inside the bags as if the act of doing so does any good. In reality, what they do gives them no chance to examine the belongings purposefully to see if indeed the bag contained potentially harmful materials.

What's funny is that they only examine the bag's compartment which the customers themselves open. If for example, it's a bag that has five compartments and they let you in after "examining" the one compartment that you open, then you're good. If you're a terrorist, you have nothing to worry about, it seems, because this means you have another four compartments to hide your equipment. Fun, right?

Also, a question comes to mind when these security guards inspect the customers' bags: "Do they really know what they're looking for?" Were these people taught what to look for, what is harmful? I doubt they know the materials that can be used to make a homemade bomb if they see one.

Unfortunately, this wasteful frisking extends not only in malls but also in public transportation such as the MRT (where they even open packaged materials like gifts!).

In the airport, they routinely check only the compartment in front of the passenger seat and the trunk. Again, if you're a terrorist, why the heck would you put your materials there? What a waste.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the frisking and checking of bags if security does it properly. But when it's only cause for the line at the entrance to worsen, I'll be up in arms about it.

In other malls in countries such as the USA, Singapore, or Hong Kong, they don't even do this. I guess, they're mature enough to know there are more effective ways in making sure the malls' customers are safe at all times.

But then again, say these security guards do spend at least 30 seconds inspecting each of the bags of the thousands of customers who enter their premises, it would be chaos with the long queue this would produce. It's really a lose-lose situation. So, why bother?

Do you have a sour encounter with these ineffective frisking? Let us know by commenting below or emailing Ken at kennethdelrosario@yahoo.com . Thanks!