security theater
n.— «Refusal to go through the detector seems to trigger a “you must have something to hide” response, tempered by the usual “ethnic” and “yoof” issues, which leads to a “normal stop and search” by the attendant Police Officers (a rare sight, normally). Yesterday, there were reports of false postives from mobile phones. Is this simply more security theatre ?» —“Hammersmith Bus Station metal detector trial—more ineffective ‘security theatre’?” Spy Blog (U.K.) Dec. 8, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
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