Body languageBehavior observation becomes more popular as a seucity technique
More and more airports employ Behavior Detection Officers, or BDOs; they focus on behavior, not physical characteristics, to identify suspicious passengers for further scrutiny
Here is an opportunity for investors: Open a school for BDOs, or Behavior Detection Officers. Boston’s Logan International Airport and Washington Dulles International, among others, already employ BDOs who rely on behavioral cues to identify suspected passngers for further scrutiny.
The technique is called SPOT, for Screening Passengers by Observation Techniques, and it was launched in June 2003. SPOT, which focuses on behavior and not physical characteristics, is expected to be deployed to the forty busiest U.S. airports by the end of this year. To date, there have been thousands of referrals to law enforcement for additional screening. In the initial phase, more than 500 behavior detection officers are expected to be trained by the end of 2008, many of them by Tony Mills, a former corrections officer who works at Portland (Maine) International Airport and travels the country as a behavior recognition instructor. Those selected for the SPOT program undergo four days of classroom instruction in behavior observation and analysis, and twenty-four hours of on-the-job training in an airport security checkpoint environment.
