SEPTEMBER 12, 2007

       I’ve been through two airports in a week and I haven’t been arrested.

       That’s a good sign considering what we’ve seen recently with different criminal busts at airports in North America. It used to be that security was ensuring air safety by making sure no deadly weapons were brought onboard planes. But now, the busts are going down in bathroom stalls.

       You’ll recall U.S. Senator Larry Craig being apprehended by police in Minnesota after allegedly soliciting sex from a man in the next bathroom stall. Not that this was posing a risk to the airplane, but I guess police were just looking for something to do that day.

       This may sound a little odd, but the idea for this column came to me when I was in the washroom at Pearson International in Toronto. When I walked into the restroom I almost started laughing because I thought it was ridiculous that an undercover police officer would be holed up in a stall making discrete advances by tapping his foot on the floor.

       It throws into question the mentality and mission of police forces across North American airports. I’m not suggesting beef up security so that it’s next to impossible to get on your plane, but I’m sure time could be better spent out in public dealing with people than literally behind a closed door trying to exploit a senator’s possible sexual encounter.

       On the way to the airport a local radio station reported a major drug bust of a Hells Angels member and a Toronto airport baggage handler. It was a police operation that led to millions of dollars seized, numerous weapons and pounds of drugs confiscated. This is a good example of what law enforcement should be focusing on.

       I have to admit, even though I was expecting a long wait to get through security, it was actually faster to go through in T.O. than it is in Winnipeg. Is this shocking for the country’s busiest airport?

       Airport security staff didn’t really talk to me. I put my stuff on the conveyor belt, it went through the scanner, I walked through the scanner and it was all over. I had to ask people if I could collect my belongings and they just nodded that it was OK. I breezed through security in less than one minute. I’m not even sure if any of the four people noticed me.

       But what do I know? Maybe I was actually noticed while in the bathroom stall foolishly thinking I had some privacy.