The practice of stopping people at New England's main airport and detaining them for questioning based on their behavior is unconstitutional and must be stopped, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday. The civil rights group challenged a program known as "behavioral pattern recognition," which Massachusetts state troopers have used at Boston's Logan International Airport since 2002 and which is serving as a model for a similar program to be launched at airports across the country. The ACLU said current law allows police to stop people when they have a reasonable suspicion that they committed, are committing, or are about to commit a crime. The behavioral profiling program, however, instructs officers to detain anyone whom they believe is exhibiting "unusual" or "anxious" behavior, the ACLU said. "This program is another unfortunate example of the extent to which we are being asked to surrender basic freedoms in the name of security," John Reinstein, legal director of the ACLU of Massachusetts, said in a statement. [more] and [more]
The group filed the lawsuit on behalf of King Downing, national coordinator of the ACLU's Campaign Against Racial Profiling. According to the lawsuit, Downing was approached by law enforcement officials after he arrived at Logan more than a year ago to attend a meeting on racial profiling. A state trooper stopped Downing, a black man with a short beard, and asked to see identification. When Downing declined to show identification without first knowing why he was being stopped, he was told he would have to leave the airport. But when Downing tried to leave, the trooper followed him and again demanded identification. Downing was then surrounded by three other troopers and told that he was being placed under arrest for failing to show identification. Downing finally agreed to show his identification and travel documents, and was allowed to leave. No charges were filed against him.