In his essay Airport screeners could see X-rated X-rays; Joe Sharkey writes that it is an invasion of privacy due to the fact that they can see through your clothes. However, I think that the X-ray machines at the air ports are a very good idea and should be kept for security purposes. The scanners are a good replacement for the pat downs because they could pick up on things that the pat downs could miss. Pat downs can ONLY be pats and nothing else if they feel something that could be a potential weapon they can take it out of your pockets. The pat downs can only detect what is felt within two seconds of a touch, things that are bid enough to feel that are underneath the clothing. Sometimes, however, the criminals that are trying to smuggle something on to an air plane find some random places to hide things. I am learning how to perform simple police actions like a pat down and the potentially dangerous objects that could be missed. One of my instructors from personal experience would prefer the X-ray scanners over a pat down main for one reason; the scanners can detect things that the pat down could miss. The pat downs usually are a good form of search but when it comes to the rather disgusting places people hide things. For instance cocaine smugglers have a tendency to swallow bags of cocaine to get passed the security and then pass it out through their feces after they get to their destination; and obese people have a tendency to hide things beneath their rolls of skin. So the X-ray scanners can pick up things that are hidden from pat downs. The machine sends out small amounts of radiation to penetrate the clothing and skin of an individual, just like at a doctor’s office. However, the images are detailed enough to see the objects are like guns, knives, bombs, etc, they are not detailed enough to be considered X-rated X-rays.
