The Cops Can Pretty Much Always Search Your Smartphone in Canada

[crazy canuck]

My point is that customs agents, the police, security, etc. are all agents of the government. I do believe it is possible to leverage processes already in place and still achieve the government's objectives.

You should set up a consultancy. You seem to be well placed to establish benchmarks and deliverables that can leverage existing assets and create win-win situations for all stakeholders.

Well played

[alfred russel]

My point is that customs agents, the police, security, etc. are all agents of the government. I do believe it is possible to leverage processes already in place and still achieve the government's objectives.

You should set up a consultancy. You seem to be well placed to establish benchmarks and deliverables that can leverage existing assets and create win-win situations for all stakeholders.

I'll settle for them not being rude to me when I get off my flight.

If that isn't possible, I'd ask that they stop giggling every time I go through the naked scanner.

[Valmy]

You seem to be well placed to establish benchmarks and deliverables that can leverage existing assets and create win-win situations for all stakeholders.

[alfred russel]

Yeah, the pre-flight security screen isn't intended to find cocaine in your luggage, and the exit-the-airport screen is unconcerned with bottles of water, lighters et. al.

In the US the exit screens are also concerned with water, lighters, etc.

However, I'm not sure if that is universal, or if it is just because I have had a connecting flight in the US or some airports are designed so that people arriving at their final destination mix with people that are connecting after clearing the screening.

I think you are getting confused by arrangements the US government has made in certain foreign airports to arrange pre-boarding customs and immigration clearance for passengers boarding the flight.  So for example, for certain flights, I can clear customs and immigration for entry into the US at the Vancouver airport.  But when that occurs I first clear security and then I pass through US customs and immigration officers.  They are two separate stops and they perform two very different functions.

No--I'm discussing arrivals in American airports.

[Syt]

My point is that customs agents, the police, security, etc. are all agents of the government. I do believe it is possible to leverage processes already in place and still achieve the government's objectives.

You should set up a consultancy. You seem to be well placed to establish benchmarks and deliverables that can leverage existing assets and create win-win situations for all stakeholders.

Jacob wins the thread.

Also, my corporate BS Bingo card is now full.

[Barrister]

Half a year after 9/11 my Mom carried a suitcase full of undeclared German food (about half of which was some sort of meat product - pork ham, sausages, cold cuts, bratwursts...) through U.S. customs without a hitch.

I have never had anything happen at US customs besides very cursory conversation.

My three (barely) amusing customs stories:

1. Driving into Alaska at Beaver Creek Yukon, probably in 2003.  My only ID was a drivers license.  When asked if I had anything else I was told as I was a "bad Canadian!", lectured I should bring proof of citizenship, and then let into the US.

2. Driving towards Skagway, Alaska for the 4th of July.  Border Guard was very helpful, gave us a map, told us the best places to go.

3. Flying into Miami from Brazil, with two strollers in tow.  There's an ENORMOUS line-up for customs for visitors to the US, and a tiny line-up for US citizens.  We start to line up in the enormous line.  We get asked if we're Americans, we reply "no, we're Canadians".  We promptly get waived over to the US citizens line.  Felt vaguely racist, but we weren't going to argue.

4. Driving back from Sakgway on a different visit.  Canadian border guard asks if I have anything to declare, I say "yes a case of beer".    Guy starts to lecture me that you can't bring back beer unless you've been in the US for 48 hours, to which I reply "...unless you're willing to pay duty".  For some reason the guy switches to asking what kind of work me and my wife do, to which we reply "Crown Prosecutor" and "corrections officer".  Dejectedly, he just waives us through, not even asking for the duty money.

[crazy canuck]

Yeah, the pre-flight security screen isn't intended to find cocaine in your luggage, and the exit-the-airport screen is unconcerned with bottles of water, lighters et. al.

In the US the exit screens are also concerned with water, lighters, etc.

However, I'm not sure if that is universal, or if it is just because I have had a connecting flight in the US or some airports are designed so that people arriving at their final destination mix with people that are connecting after clearing the screening.

I think you are getting confused by arrangements the US government has made in certain foreign airports to arrange pre-boarding customs and immigration clearance for passengers boarding the flight.  So for example, for certain flights, I can clear customs and immigration for entry into the US at the Vancouver airport.  But when that occurs I first clear security and then I pass through US customs and immigration officers.  They are two separate stops and they perform two very different functions.

No--I'm discussing arrivals in American airports.

Well, every time you go from a secured area of an airport to an unsecured area you need to go through security screening again before boarding a flight.  In many airports around the world you can make connections while remaining in a secured area.  But I still have no idea what that has to do with customs and immigration officers protecting ports of entry.

[alfred russel]

My point is that customs agents, the police, security, etc. are all agents of the government. I do believe it is possible to leverage processes already in place and still achieve the government's objectives.

You should set up a consultancy. You seem to be well placed to establish benchmarks and deliverables that can leverage existing assets and create win-win situations for all stakeholders.

I was going to add synergy in there too but i thought it might be too much.

[crazy canuck]

4. Driving back from Sakgway on a different visit.  Canadian border guard asks if I have anything to declare, I say "yes a case of beer".    Guy starts to lecture me that you can't bring back beer unless you've been in the US for 48 hours, to which I reply "...unless you're willing to pay duty".  For some reason the guy switches to asking what kind of work me and my wife do, to which we reply "Crown Prosecutor" and "corrections officer".  Dejectedly, he just waives us through, not even asking for the duty money.

I always declare the wine I buy on trips to the US.  I always get waved through without them collecting the duty.  Its just not worth that paperwork for them.  If I had lied about it though that 3x duty penalty starts to make it worth their while.

[Zanza]

For some reason the two most relaxed US security agents I encountered where both in 2002, a couple of months after 9/11. While trying to get on our connecting flight in Chicago, the hand luggage scanner clearly showed a small knife (like an inch or an inch and a half) in my father's bag. The agent searched the whole bag and didn't find anything, so he let us pass so we could catch our connecting flight. We later found the knife in the lining of the bag. Oops. On the same trip, when re-entering the US from Tijuana, we didn't want to queue with all the Mexicans because that would have taken ages. So we went for the US citizens queue. The border guard saw our German passports and told us in flawless German how he had served with this and that unit in Germany for a couple of years and gave us some tips what to visit next before letting us pass.
Seems to me like it took the TSA some years to become the annoyance it is today...

[Zanza]

One thing that is very noticeable at international airports is that Americans always take off their shoes for security scans which is typically not required anywhere except in the US.

[crazy canuck]

One thing that is very noticeable at international airports is that Americans always take off their shoes for security scans which is typically not required anywhere except in the US.

[Valmy]

One thing that is very noticeable at international airports is that Americans always take off their shoes for security scans which is typically not required anywhere except in the US.

We are well trained.

[crazy canuck]

One thing that is very noticeable at international airports is that Americans always take off their shoes for security scans which is typically not required anywhere except in the US.

We are well trained.

The funny part is watching others around the American start to take off their shoes as well.

[CountDeMoney]

One thing that is very noticeable at international airports is that Americans always take off their shoes for security scans which is typically not required anywhere except in the US.

Yeah, one shoe bomber on a US flight ruins it for everybody.