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Crazy TSA search goes too far
When Kathy Parker headed through TSA at Philadelphia International Airport for a regular business trip to North Carolina, she had no idea about the ordeal she was in for. After being selected for a more in-depth search on one of the tables -- out in the open where everyone can see -- they went through her stuff, including her more personal items like receipts and diet pills (and they asked if they worked), and she was subjected to questions about the checks in her purse (they were made out to her husband). Basically, it seems that the TSA agents suspected she was in a "divorce situation," reports Philly.com, and thought she was emptying her husband's bank account.
Wait, the same TSA people who never notice my tube of toothpaste?
We certainly spend plenty of time irritated by the TSA's lack of common sense and/or courtesy, but at what point do they truly cross the line? Is this kind of investigating any of their business?
TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said, ""If the search is complete, and shows individuals not to be a threat to the aircraft or fellow passengers, they are free to go." Wait, what? I think embezzlement and or possibly stealing from your husband (which she wasn't) falls pretty far outside those parameters. Davis says she was "probably" held because her "behavior escalated." If you were holding me hostage and reading my receipts, you can bet my "behavior" would "escalate," too.
Vic Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU, is on Parker's side, thank goodness, calling the incident "'preposterous' and a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches."
The TSA is not the FBI, and in this blogger's opinion, the agents in question should be disciplined. This is a case of bullying and abuse of power, and at the very least a case of bored workers acting recklessly with someone else's well-being in their hands. What do you think?
[via Philly.com]
[Photo by Mobile Edge Laptop Cases]
Filed under: News, Travel Security
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
verdegrrl Aug 20th 2010 2:28PM
Welcome to the U S....errrrr......A? Papers komrad.
Completely inappropriate. This has nothing to do with the TSA's mission statement. It's what happens when you build a make-work program for otherwise unemployable (you don't even need a GED if you've worked as a mall cop or night guard for a year), don't publish guidelines, and don't hold people accountable.
Scott Sep 25th 2010 7:45PM
Another crazy worthless idiot looking to sue so she can quit her day job. Get a life, if you don't like being searched then don't fly. I fly a few times a month, about half of those international and from experience I know that if you start acting like a B@@@@ then you give them more reason to keep going, and that is for the safety of the other passengers. This women looks like a B@@@@ and it is obvious that she is after money. Get a life.......
verdegrrl Sep 25th 2010 10:45PM
My my, that chip on your shoulder is prettu heavy. Hope you have a good chiro. ;)
You do realize that the US searches are just security theatre, don't you? There are many countries with less obtrusive, yet more effective security measures - maybe you've encountered them and never realized it? For some whose mission it is to look for immediate threat weapons and prevent them from boarding an airplane, this steps way over the line. Perhaps next time a police officer stops you in your car, he should search the car, and draw whatever wacko conclusions about your life and potential criminal activity his or her over-heated imagine can cook up. Or maybe if you walk a street in a crowded area, they should be able to strip search you and apply whatever TV script paranoia they like best.
You're FAAAAAARRRRRR more likely to die driving o the airport than to die in any fashion in the air.
Puleeze!