Transport Canada announces it plans to seek bids for a contract on a new passenger behavior screening program

CALGARY – It may sound a little far-fetched, but every subtle move you make could soon be monitored and dissected by behavior screeners in Canada’s airports.

“Things stick out if people are doing something they are not supposed to be doing. They are usually acting a lot differently than other people, and that sticks out to people who are trained to spot it”, says Daniel Clayton, a specialist in Intelligence and Risk Management at the Calgary Airport.

In addition to the 44 body scanners, the Government of Canada is requesting a proposal to get “spot” teams, or screening passengers by observation technique teams in place.

“We are taking a multilayered approach to aviation security. This approach is used increasingly around the world by law enforcement and transportation system employees as an additional layer of security”, says Rob Merrifield, Junior Transportation Minister.

The technique is already being used throughout the United Kingdom and more famously in Israel. Attention has been drawn to Isreal’s airport security model ever since the attempted bombing on Christmas Day in Detroit. Their system focuses more the passenger than the baggage. Profilers start up a conversation with a passenger, asking simple questions, and monitor their every move for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary. That could be anything from wearing heavy clothing on a hot day to fidgeting or sweating a lot.

“Seventy to eighty percent of our communication is body language, so to identify if someone is under a certain stress, is angry, is a threat, it’s important to observe their body language and micro-expressions in their face”, says Kelly Sundberg, Department of Justice Studies at the University of Calgary.

Security experts say the screeners would walk around airports as if they were other passengers on planes, so they will not be easily identified. There would also be uniformed screeners, and screeners watching from security cameras.

Transport Canada says it does not have a specific timeline of when spot teams will be operational, only stating it hopes to have everything in place as soon as possible.