Maybe they should read
Posted on 11/24/2004 8:02:30 AM PST by JesseHousman
OUR OPINION: TIGHTEN GUIDELINES OR DITCH INVASIVE SEARCHES
In the brief existence of the Transportation Security Administration since the 9/11 terror attacks, airport-security screeners have been endured more than beloved. Now TSA agents have sunk to a new low of public loathing.
Some screeners have used new rules that allow pat-down searches of passengers to turn the airport check-in process into a humiliating invasion of personal privacy. Scores of women have complained of unnecessary touching and fondling, of searches that resemble ''breast exams'' and of wands placed too vigorously between their legs. The TSA needs to either impose stricter guidelines that eliminate these excesses or abolish the pat-down procedures altogether. We prefer the latter.
Invasive searches
The agency has received more than 250 complaints -- most of them from women, but some from men, too -- since the pat-down procedures began in September. The procedures were begun shortly after two Russian airliners exploded last summer in what authorities believe were the detonations from explosives hidden in the bras of two women passengers. But no definitive causes of the blasts have been determined.
The TSA is concerned enough about the problem that it posted a notice on its website at www.tsa.gov saying that searches are being performed in a professional, respectful manner and that it takes seriously passengers' complaints about invasive searches. Considering the experiences of some passengers, the TSA should add hundreds more unreported ''situations'' to the complaints already received.
Even experienced travelers have been too shaken and embarrassed by the searches to report a problem or think clearly enough to jot down the offending screener's name. Patti LuPone, the singer and actress, says she was forced to remove her belt, shoes, jacket and blouse -- revealing a see-through camisole -- at the security checkpoint at Fort Lauderdale/Hollywood Airport. She said that the ''pat down'' included her groin area and breasts, and that the screener ``was all over me with her hands.''
Humiliating delays
Worse for passengers, a pat-down search exposes them to a Catch-22. If they refuse the search or protest too much, they will be delayed and often miss their flight; or they could be subject to arrest. Forced to choose between a missed flight or personal dignity, most choose to endure the humiliation.
TSA agents can single out for a pat-down search anyone who sets off an alarm -- triggered sometimes by metal supports in bras -- or for any passenger at all based on the screener's ''visual observations.'' That's too much discretion in the hands of sometimes poorly trained screeners. Rather than use this hit-miss approach, the TSA should use more scanning devices that can identify even trace amounts of explosives.
There's nothing these muslim women won't do for the cause.
We need to profile passengers and, in cases where the passenger is a possible terrorist, subject the passenger to extensive interview as the Israeli security forces do.
The typical TSA fondler is at best very dumb.
Annoo, yo!
I hate to be annooyo'ed
It's a painful procedure for any male over 30, as everyone knows.
Ooops. Too early to blame it on martinis.
Annooyo sounds like a place I would like to visit. At least the streetcars run on time there.
That's Latin for "Happy New Year," right?
as always, the left's easy accusations of authority and easy solutions.
no doubt they'd prefer less searches and have the plane blown up.
then they could bitch about the lax security of the bush administration.
I just asked our Moderator to fix that.
I hope he says no. LOL
I heard a similar remark from a UK security type when I asked about not having to remove the laptop from its bag for the x-ray scan there.
Just to preserve it for the record. *\;-)
But it makes me look dumber than I actually am.
I understand. It must really be annooyoing.
Most of my posts do that to me. Accept the inevitable. :-)
I knew a fellow once whose name was Ardoyno.
I was trying to figure this one out. I flew to London with my husband this weekend. On the way there, I had to take my laptop out of the case. Waiting in the security line at Heathrow, I start to remove the laptop again when my husband (who travels to the UK often for business) tells me "You don't need to take it out here." What's up with that? Laptops are seen as threatening leaving the US, but not going to the US?
A ping, just to annooyo all of you! ;-)
An instant FR classic: ANOOOOOOOOOOYO!
I'm not anoooyoed. I'm just a little irtiritateed.
I'm annoyed.
Aw, we're just playin' witcha. It happens every time someone misspells a word. :) (see: "Beeber, stuned")
Please, please change that headline.
Ha! I know. Just kidding.
The mod will get with you as soon as he answers his beeber.
One TV News program showed, last night, a 70 year old grandmonther who was carring a 22 derringer in a hollowed out BOOK!! This is what causes screeners to get weird.
Gesundheit!
Actually I'm for arming all passengers. That way we get a chance to defend ourselves from crazed islamists.
What's weird about packing heat. I'll bet she carries it for self-defense.
Israeli Security does not limit the "extensive interview" to possible terrorists. Everyone is subject to the interview, which is why passengers often arrive for flights to, from, and within Israel three to four hours in advance. The Amercian public would never tolerate that. Nor would they tolerate the invasive questions that Israeli security routinly asks. I can see the headline now: "TSA Questions Humilate Air Travelers"
BTW, how are you going to profile blonde haired blue eyed women who decide to take up a violent cause?
I don't think blonde, blue-eyed passengers are not carrying explosives in their bras.
Many of these Russian/Chechnian terroerist are blonde haired blue eyed fems.
That's what the TSA, and airlines, advise you to do now.
In the USA you just don't get the interview. You just sit around outside the security area for 3 hours because, of course, there are no amenities inside the security areas at Kansas City international, not even bathrooms.
I have flown 12 times since 01.01.04. I arrive one hour in advance and with one exception, I've passed through security in five minutes or less. Not a big deal.
And, just to warn you, if you ever fly out of Vegas, come at least 2 hours early. It takes that long just to get to the security checkpoint.
A blonde woman was speeding down the road in her little red sports car and was pulled over by a woman police officer that was also a blonde. The cop asked to see the blonde's driver's license. She dug through her purse and was getting progressively more agitated.
"What does it look like?" she finally asked. The policewoman replied, "It's square and it has your picture on it." The driver finally found a square mirror, looked at it and handed it to the policewoman. "Here it is," she said. The blonde officer looked at the mirror, then handed it back saying, "Okay, you can go. I didn't realize you were a cop.
As the fellow in the UK told me, "We're much smarter than your people over there..."
LOLOL
LOLOL
Am I being punished?
Heck, there are weekends when I head over to the airport and buy a ticket just so I can get felt up in the security line! I've had an application in with TSA for several months now, so hopefully I'll get an interview sometime soon!
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