Car Park Security Screening

[edwinchester]

After one more visit to Swampy I just have to ask the question. What possible good does the cursery glance under my car do? A bored looking individual scuffs around my pickup with a mirror on a stick. In maybe 30 trips there I have never been asked to open the cover on my Triton or have a look inside which is the obvious place to hide any device.

[Crushdepth]

It provides employment for security guards. Other than that, it is a total waste of time and money.

[tonytigerbkk]

I have to agree with this being a waste of time.

When I go to the airport I am always asked to open my boot/trunk at the car park entrance but the security have never asked to look inside my luggage, which is inside the boot/trunk.

What do they expect to find?

Do they think that if I were to place a bomb that I would pack it outside of the suitcase so that they can find it easier.

In fact if you made a bomb that did not have a digital counter/alarm clock strapped to 6 red sticks of dynamite (with TNT printed on the sides) and blue & red wires connecting it all up, I don't think that the airport security would know it was a bomb.

[PattayaParent]

I'd say that they are working on the basis that a car bomb meant to cause mass destruction would need to have the boot packed full of explosive material.

A few stick of dynamite or a brick of semtex is not going to do much damage to anything but the car that it is sat in.

Edit: it's also all about a bit of show to reassure the public who might get a bit panicky if they think there are NO security measures in place.

Edited October 29, 2011 by PattayaParent

[tonytigerbkk]

I'd say that they are working on the basis that a car bomb meant to cause mass destruction would need to have the boot packed full of explosive material.

A few stick of dynamite or a brick of semtex is not going to do much damage to anything but the car that it is sat in.

Edit: it's also all about a bit of show to reassure the public who might get a bit panicky if they think there are NO security measures in place.

A brick of Semtex would do a lot more damage than to just the car.

Semtex comes in standard bricks of 1 kg, 2 kg & 3 kg but the manufacturers (Explosia A.S.) will sell this in larger bricks.

Three pounds of Semtex packs enough punch to raze a two-story building (3 lb = 1.36077 kg), So a brick of Semtex at any of the standard weights would do far more damage than just ruining the go-faster stripes or the alloys on your average family car.

If the Semtex is placed correctly the damage and blast area could be far worse.

Therefore I would have to lean towards your suggestion that these searches are only for show to keep Joe Public feeling safe.

There again it might be an insurance requirement to have the searches conducted.

Regards,

Tiger.

[PattayaParent]

^but the semtex would have to be strategically placed and specially set to be able to bring down a structure, not just haphazardly placed in a car and hope it produces more than just a loud bang.

Also it's difficult to get hold of semtex so those organisations that would want to use it to bring down a building tend to use a very small amount with a detonator to get the initial explosive effect with the majority of the explosive force provided by fertiliser.

[Payboy]

Most security guards couldn't tell apart a brick of Semtex from a pack of chewing gum.

[Finlaco]

^but the semtex would have to be strategically placed and specially set to be able to bring down a structure, not just haphazardly placed in a car and hope it produces more than just a loud bang.

Also it's difficult to get hold of semtex so those organisations that would want to use it to bring down a building tend to use a very small amount with a detonator to get the initial explosive effect with the majority of the explosive force provided by fertiliser.

Is there anything this contributor isn't an expert on?

[OZEMADE]

Been to swampy heaps of times in my ISUZU ute, picking up and dropping off friends. Never had a mirror under the car or asked to open the hard top ute lid.

I believe as soon as they see a whitey driving they just call me through. I get my ticket and park.

[Semper]

Most security guards couldn't tell apart a brick of Semtex from a pack of chewing gum.

Semtex comes in standard bricks of 1 kg, 2 kg & 3 kg.

[tonytigerbkk]

^but the semtex would have to be strategically placed and specially set to be able to bring down a structure, not just haphazardly placed in a car and hope it produces more than just a loud bang.

Also it's difficult to get hold of semtex so those organisations that would want to use it to bring down a building tend to use a very small amount with a detonator to get the initial explosive effect with the majority of the explosive force provided by fertiliser.

Any explosive would need to be placed strategically to bring down a building, it does not matter whether it's Semtex, C4 or an IED.

I was merely pointing out the explosive power of Semtex.

Even if you stuffed the car full of Semtex and parked it in the airport car park you would not bring down the terminal building.

It might be difficult to get hold of Semtex but you were the one who mentioned that a brick of Semtex would not do much damage to anything but the car that it is sat in.

As a matter of fact it would cause a lot of damage whether it was placed strategically on the car or not, placing the explosive strategically on the car would maximise the damage.

I once seen a fire-power demonstration where a car was blown up with just one ounce of C4 (1 ounce = 28.3495 g).

Yes that one ounce was strategically placed to cause maximum effect but the blast power of just that one ounce of C4 was enough to totally obliterated the car and had a kill zone of about 50 meters.

The brick of Semtex would have more explosive power than a C4 equivalent and is 35 x larger than the one ounce explosive that I saw.

If a 1kg brick of Semtex were to go off in a boot of a car in the airport car park (however it is placed) I would not want to be anywhere near the car park.

It would damage a lot more than just the car that it was placed in.

[NanLaew]

The primary purpose of the cursory under-car security check at airports has been confirmed.

It is purely to feed inane and pointless debates on internet forums.