Fliers Complain About X-Rated Security Screenings

CBS2Chicago.com via Drudge ^ | July 22, 2008 | cbs2chicago.com

[jjm2111]

In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone

"It's humiliation," Perry said.

Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector.

"He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle," Perry said.

At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse.

"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary.

[jjm2111]

Security theater at its finest.

[weegee]

Who is protecting us from security? Remember the photos of them looting things from peoples’ open bags?

Political correctness is killing us. Give some people a little bit of power for the first time in their lives and they will use it.

Oh, and “No profiling!!!”

[newbolt]

She was yelling ‘I have power, I have power, I have power...

Yeah and you believe she said that.

[King_Corey]

Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

Latin phrase from the Roman poet Juvenal

Translates as
“Who watches the watchmen?”
or
“Who watches the watchers?”

Sadly, the people we PAY to watch them, don’t, they squabble about “Bridges to Nowhere” and museums to honor “Lawrence Welk”.

[YOUGOTIT]

If it were a Islamic Fascist they would never do anything for fear of being non PC.

[Perdogg]

For some reason, they don’t like me in Narita. Coming and going through Narita I got pulled out of line and searched. The security lady, pulled me out of line made stand a box while she searched me with a wand.

They also did a patdown of me leaving Nassau, Bahamas. I didn’t think it was a big deal.

[ConservativeMind]

I don’t belive that, either.

[MEGoody]

"She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said.

This woman needs to be fired, and now!

[Don Corleone]

This is just a prelude to Obama’s SS when he gets his National Police Force. Worry about this A LOT!

[Savage Beast]

I always thank the security check people at the airport for keeping my family and me safe.

However--I know I'm stating the obvious--if America were not bogged down in a quagmire of political correctness and other forms of the decadence that threaten to destroy Western Civilization--profiling would minimize the need for physical and radiological security checks.

I get really annoyed at the long delays--the long lines through security--having to remove shoes, jackets, etc.--having to pay all these security check people. The stupidity of political correctness--and other forms of decadence--require doing everything imaginable except solving a problem by the most direct and logical means.

[MEGoody]

Yeah and you believe she said that.

Possibly not. But IF she did and/or IF she did pull this guy's pants down, she should be gone.

[xsmommy]

i have a metal implant and am routinely wanded in that special see-through area every time i fly, which is not infrequently. i do not for a minute believe the TSA person said that.

[skipper18]

“Political correctness is killing us”

Sure, but in this case it’s right wing political correctness driving this. No one wants to be the guy that didnt order every person cavity searched if something else ‘bad’ happens.

“Give some people a little bit of power for the first time in their lives and they will use it”

I couldnt agree more. This is a bunch of wannabe cops who have actually been given more power than actual police. You cant give a bunch of high school dropouts this kind of control over people they’ll automatically resent when they see the stuff they own.

[2banana]

And we do all this so that young muslim males don’t feel picked on when going through security...

[Fundamentally Fair]

I was at Dulles yesterday to pick up my wife. I waited for about 25 minutes in the baggage area. Every one of the TSA agents that I saw were puffed up, cocky, and either geeky or fat...or both. Really fat.

[sono]

New TSA Regs - No Baggage, Fly Naked.

There ... problem solved.

[Fundamentally Fair]

Yeah and you believe she said that.

Having traveled extensively over the past two and a half years...I believe it is possible.

[untrained skeptic]

The screenings are done in public view to prevent accusations that improper things we done in private. If abusive treatment did occur, there can then be witnesses of it, and the abusive TSA employees caught and dealt with.

If they did have to have this guy strip down to his underwear it should have been done behind a screen with another agent, if not a supervisor present.

If things happened like this many says, that agent needs to be fired.

I've flown a lot since 9/11 and have never had any problems with TSA agents beyond one of them occasionally being grumpy. What they are told to search for can at times be a bit ridicules, but that isn't an issue of abusive TSA agents, it's an issue of foolish bureaucrats that make the rules that they follow.

There are hundreds of thousands of flights a day. I'm sure there are a significant number of complaints against TSA agents. I'm sure there is even some validity in a small number of those complaints.

TSA agents are human beings and it's hard to hire a large number of human beings and not get some that aren't going to do their jobs properly.

Of course among hundreds of thousands of passengers a day, you are also going to find some who act like their world is coming to an end if the TSA determines they need to look in their carry-on bag because some of its contents look in combination like they might be dangerous on the xray machine.

In reality, the more you bluster and object, the longer the screening will take, and the more through the screener will likely feel they need to be.

Now if the screener really does act like a power hungry ego maniac, they aren't likely to abuse too many people before they end up with several complaints that can be verified by others.

However, the press only tells one person's side of the story, and it is always the person who complains they were horribly abused by the TSA.

[svcw]

Having flow a couple of times, the only time I have seen security rilled up is when the passenger cops an attitude.
This story is one sided.Yes, I do believe son security are jerks......

[WVKayaker]

I was at Dulles yesterday to pick up my wife...

Would it make you feel better to know that one of the supervisors at Dulles is a Serbian, who spent time in a prison camp? How about if he liked to take a drink or two, before starting his 11 am shift? Does that make you feel safer?

These are facts, that have been reported to the proper people, and he is still there! PC requires them to leave him in place while they investigate (now three months!).

My daughter is friends with a woman he impregnated, and lived with for a season! She found out he was still married, and my daughter told her how best to handle it!!!

For me, I know the system is, was, and will be screwed!