Lets hope
Baghdad TSA Bob doesn't get laid off because of sequestration. He
reports in:
Four inert/replica/novelty grenades were discovered this week. Two were discovered at Honolulu (HNL), and the others were discovered at Salt Lake City (SLC), and Wichita (ICT).
Seven inert blasting caps used for training in the mining industry were discovered in checked baggage at Greenbrier County Airport (LWB).
After learning that his luggage had made a flight that he missed, a Las Vegas (LAS) passenger told the gate agent: “Imagine there was a bomb in my bag. I’m not on plane, and it would explode.”
Baghdad TSA Bob also discussed
the TSA scaring of a 3-year old girl in a wheelchair (my highlights):
An incident involving a girl in her wheelchair has been getting a lot of attention. I’ve been reading a lot of articles, tweets, and posts about this and I feel some clarification is needed. First off, we regret that this happened and TSA has apologized directly to the family for their inconvenience at the airport.
What we did:
- Our officer did initially mention a pat-down. We admit this was confusing, and contributed to a stressful situation. Very quickly, a manager was able to step in and give guidance.
- Also, our officer told the passenger that it was illegal to film at the checkpoint. This is not the case, and you can take a look at our filming policy here.
- TSA’s Federal Security Director at Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (STL) reached out to personally apologize for the incident. He also offered to assist the family the next time they traveled through the airport.
What we didn’t do:
- The child did not receive a pat-down. You can read our new procedures for children 12 and under here.
- Neither the child nor the parent was detained. TSA does not have the authority to detain passengers. Only Law Enforcement Officers can detain passengers.
- The child’s stuffed animal was not confiscated. It was screened and handed back to the child after being screened. All accessible property is screened prior to traveling to your departure gate. You may remember this stuffed animal from last year.
Incidents like this can trigger a lot of emotions, but please keep the TSA’s mission in mind. We are committed to maintaining the security of the traveling public.
"We are committed to maintaining the security of the traveling public."
ReplyDeleteRight. Does anyone actually believe that?
"Also, our officer told the passenger that it was illegal to film at the checkpoint. This is not the case..."
ReplyDeleteSo, if the officer says not to film, but it's not illegal, could the perpetrator be charged with disobeying a federal official? I mean, the cop/TSA agent/FBI agent/etc did TELL him/her to switch it off. Surely we need to have a high level of compliance with those officials wearing guns and badges that are hired and trained to protect us, right? What sort of example does this show the children when adults flaunt legitimate authority like that? They need to know who gives the orders.
/sarc
I think that federal law should mandate that any officer that makes a statement as to a matter of law that is false should serve a mandatory 10 years in prison.
DeleteThere is ZERO excuse for those charged with upholding the law to not be well versed in it. There is ZERO excuse for those charged with upholding the law to lie about it in order to make their jobs easier or to cover their asses.
Lying and/or ignorance is inexcusable and the punishment should be swift and harsh. With a video like this one the TSA agent should already be in prison serving his/her term.
If we have too many laws for the .gov agents to realistically know them all in sufficient detail then hmmm.... Perhaps we either need to remove some laws or do away with agents set out to enforce something they know nothing about.