EDITORIAL - Silly security work

A common complaint among mediamen covering presidential visits is that the Presidential Security Group, which is tasked to secure the president, goes about its task so rabidly that it borders on silliness and stupidity.

Almost everything on a mediaman’s person is checked, and then confiscated if it has so much as a little sharpness or cutting edge to it. About the only thing with the ability to cut that is left alone are a mediaman’s dentures.

When even the ballpens mediamen use to take down notes are seized, you can be sure the PSG is anything but intelligent. This is the kind of mentality that would burn down a house to get rid of a cat. Only the similarly unintelligent can feel at ease being secured by these men.

Protecting the president does not require high-handed methods. It does not require pure brute force. More than any other weapon in its arsenal, presidential guards need brains to think, to get inside the mind of a killer in order to be a step ahead of one.

That is why you never see the Secret Service, the PSG’s US counterpart, confiscating ballpens from mediamen. The US Secret Service recognizes that their president must be protected not only from physical harm but from bad publicity as well, which can be equally damaging.

In a public gathering, the US Secret Service does not antagonize the guests by poking flashlights into their nostrils. They simply let their brains analyze what their eyes see as they sweep their gaze back and forth across the surroundings.

Is that man looking around too much? Is that woman peeking inside her bag too frequently? The US Secret Service does not miss these things. Yet they do not act abruptly. They do not want to unnecessarily create a situation that could result in a bad press for their president.

But not our PSG, whose mental orientation is to treat every citizen as a suspect and a potential killer. They may come under a dignified name but they are no better than supermarket security guards.

Supermarket guards see every shopper as a likely thief and shoplifter who must be stopped at exits to have their goods checked and their receipts defaced to make sure they cannot be used again. This is a big turnoff. Good security work catches culprits, not make suspects of everyone.