HPD, airport security at odds over incident Man allowed to board aircraft ... bomb components

Houston Chronicle ^ | July 9, 2006, 11:09AM | HARVEY RICE

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Houston police and the federal Transportation Security Administration disagree over who is responsible for allowing a man with what appeared to be bomb components board an aircraft at Hobby Airport last week.

Although the FBI eventually cleared the man of wrongdoing, police officials have transferred the officer involved and are investigating the incident while insisting that the TSA, not police, has the authority to keep a suspicious person from boarding a flight.

"Our job is not to be the gatekeepers," police Capt. Dwayne Ready said. "That burden falls squarely on the airline and TSA to make that final decision.

"We are looking at our role in the situation to make sure our policies were adhered to," he said. "During follow-up, we are finding that there simply was not a material threat."

TSA spokeswoman Andrea McCauley said screeners have the authority to stop people from going beyond the checkpoint to the boarding areas, but they rely heavily on local police.

"It's just agencies talking with each other," Ready said, downplaying the disagreement.

Details of the dispute McCauley and Ready would not comment about the June 26 incident, but a confidential TSA report obtained by the Houston Chronicle details a dispute between screeners and a police officer on duty at the airport.

The report states that a man with a Middle Eastern name and a ticket for a Delta Airlines flight to Atlanta shook his head when screeners asked if he had a laptop computer in his baggage, but an X-ray machine operator detected a laptop.

A search of the man's baggage revealed a clock with a 9-volt battery taped to it and a copy of the Quran, the report said. A screener examined the man's shoes and determined that the "entire soles of both shoes were gutted out."

No explosive material was detected, the report states. A police officer was summoned and questioned the man, examined his identification, shoes and the clock, then cleared him for travel, according to the report.

A TSA screener disagreed with the officer, saying "the shoes had been tampered with and there were all the components of (a bomb) except the explosive itself," the report says.

The officer retorted, "I thought y'all were trained in this stuff," TSA officials reported.

The report says the TSA screener notified Delta Airlines and talked again with the officer, who said he had been unable to check the passenger's criminal background because of computer problems.

FBI involvement The incident gained enough attention at higher levels of the TSA that the FBI was asked to investigate. The TSA issued a statement saying its screeners "acted in accordance with their training and protocols."

FBI Special Agent Stephen Emmett in Atlanta said agents there investigated the passenger.

"It was looked at and deemed a non-event," Emmett said, declining to give further details.

Meanwhile the officer involved in the dispute, J.O. Reece, has been transferred to a desk job, "the same place they send officers who are relieved of duty," said Chad Hoffman, attorney for the Houston Police Officers Union.

Hoffman said Reece doesn't understand why he was transferred "when it seems clear from the onset of the investigation that he didn't have probable cause to detain anybody and that his actions were consistent with the law and HPD policy."

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*sigh*

[Allegra]

I beg their freakin' pardon???

Say what????

[theDentist]

Between 2 departments, neither had the common sense to hold this guy.

[Thombo2]

What a screw up.Guess it's too late to do anything now(?).I hope they at the least keep track of this person.Sounds like it was a "dry run".

[OpusatFR]

"Hoffman said Reece doesn't understand why he was transferred "when it seems clear from the onset of the investigation that he didn't have probable cause to detain anybody and that his actions were consistent with the law and HPD policy.""

Another dry run. They keep probing the screening procedures.

[thinking]

I agree...a test run...

[Ditto]

Sounds like it was a "dry run".

That's what I'm guessing too.

[null and void]

Between 2 departments, neither had the common sense to hold this guy.

Yeah. We clearly need an additional department...

[PogySailor]

Hollowed out shoes and a makesift timer?

Move along folks, nothing to see here.

[NonValueAdded]

A search of the man's baggage revealed a clock with a 9-volt battery taped to it and a copy of the Quran, the report said. A screener examined the man's shoes and determined that the "entire soles of both shoes were gutted out."

No explosive material was detected, the report states. A police officer was summoned and questioned the man, examined his identification, shoes and the clock, then cleared him for travel, according to the report.

A TSA screener disagreed with the officer, saying "the shoes had been tampered with and there were all the components of (a bomb) except the explosive itself," the report says.

"It's only a box cutter, let him go." This is just freaking unbelievable! That dude should be in a holding cell while his life was picked apart to determine what he was up to. The entire plane should have been searched and the passengers rescreened to see if somehow other components slipped through.

[PogySailor]

mikesift = makeshift

[null and void]

Move along folks, nothing to see here.

You're grasping at Reids...

[TankerKC]

We clearly need an additional department...

</liberal think>

;)

[Yo-Yo]

Duplicate post. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1663051/posts

[theDentist]

I thought that was what "Homeland Security" was created for... that's additional redundancy... /sarc

[null and void]

That dude should be in a holding cell while his life was picked apart to determine what he was up to. The entire plane should have been searched and the passengers rescreened to see if somehow other components slipped through.

In a rational society he would have been.

[null and void]

Damm. I did search first, too.

[kitkat]

Are our laws so protective of privacy (thank you, NY Times), that we release a passenger under the following conditions?:

Has a clock with a 9-volt battery taped to it
Has a copy of the Quran
Shoes gutted out
Denies having a lap top when X-ray reveals that he has one
Has all the earmarks of a dry run

I am stunned.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I have to laugh. Went to Atlanta's Aquarium yesterday. They have metal detectors and the screening process... empty out your purse and pockets, etc.

My husband had my keys. On the key ring is an ornamental handle from an old silver spoon... just a decorative item on the key ring.

The screener had to ask her supervisor if my spoon handle was dangerous or not. Like I'm going to be gouging out eyeballs with the spoon handle!

[Spiff]

A search of the man's baggage revealed a clock with a 9-volt battery taped to it and a copy of the Quran, the report said. A screener examined the man's shoes and determined that the "entire soles of both shoes were gutted out." No explosive material was detected, the report states. A police officer was summoned and questioned the man, examined his identification, shoes and the clock, then cleared him for travel, according to the report. A TSA screener disagreed with the officer, saying "the shoes had been tampered with and there were all the components of (a bomb) except the explosive itself," the report says.

Clearly a test run.

This guy should have been allowed to fly and then tailed mercilessly until his partners and supporters could be found out. Then we could have busted the whole terrorist cell that is doing test runs in preparation for some future attack.

Actually, that may be the case here but the press and others made a big deal of this guy being "cleared for travel" while he was carrying nothing that was actually a threat to the flight.

Just thinking out loud here.