Harness the power of greed. (Scan).(airport security incentive system)(Brief Article)

We know there's a continuing problem with weapons getting through airport security. Testers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport (serving the capital), slipped 16 bombs, 9 hand grenades, and 25 guns by the scanners between January 1995 and August 2001. Fines were issued to airlines in 38 percent of these cases. But fines have little effect on the airlines, and even less effect on the security personnel on the ground.

Perhaps it's time for some new thinking. What if every time a screener found a gun, knife, or bomb--whether carried by a passenger or an official tester--the screener uncovering it earned a bonus of some hundreds of dollars? Do you think more or fewer weapons would be caught?

The exact amount of the bonus would have to be tinkered with (and should probably be mirrored by a dock in pay for missing a weapon), but the screeners' lives would certainly be much more exciting--which is the point. Airport security screening is what's called a "vigilance task" and humans are notoriously bad at these (imagine proofreading an encyclopedia). Quite simply: We get bored. We even, as did one screener in February, fall asleep.

The prospect of hard cash bonuses just might heighten the senses ...