A top Muslim British policeman is warning officials not to start screening airline passengers using a method he has coined as "travelling whilst Asian."

Recent reports suggest the British government and airport authorities are looking at new ways of profiling passengers, including using factors such as ethnicity and religion. Metropolitan Police Chief Superintendent Ali Desai said he supports profiling but not if it is solely based on ethnicity or religion.

"Passenger profiling is a very legitimate way to gather intelligence on passengers. For example, you check people's travel history, you check problematic destinations and the frequency by which people travel to those destinations," Desai told CTV Newsnet on Tuesday.

"Racial profiling is you simply target particular groups on the basis of their ethnic origin, and my view is the latter is flawed and is counterproductive."

On Sunday, former British police chief John Stevens published a controversial opinion piece in the News of the World where he called for "passenger profiling" on flights. He called for increased checks of "young Muslim men" and cited Israel as a place where similar methods worked effectively.

"I'm a white, 62-year-old, suit-wearing ex-cop - I fly often, but do I really fit the profile of a suicide bomber?" questioned Stevens.

"It's exactly the same as recognizing that, during the Northern Ireland troubles that left thousands dead, the IRA were totally based in the Catholic community and the UVF in the Protestant."

But Desai said people must remember that Muslims as a whole are victims of terrorism just like everybody else.

"I think clearly what one has to bear in mind is that the Muslim community is actually victims in this. If you recall the events of 9/11 or 7/7 in London, there were many Muslim people who were actually killed in those atrocities."

"If we alientate and marginalize these communities then were taking a backward step."

British Transport Department officials are refusing to disclose any details on the profiling proposals.

"Our security measures at airports are layered. Some measures are visible. Others we are not prepared to discuss. That plays into the hands of terrorists," a department official told Reuters.

Some of Britain's 1.7 million Muslims have accused police of using tough anti-terrorism laws to target their communities. Desai identified a different approach to helping make people feel safe.

"Public safety is about working collectively. That's government, security agencies as well as the community to ensure that we get community intelligence in order to put terrorists away."