Posted on 05/04/2006 6:29:05 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
YUBA CITY, Calif. - A taxpayer advocate has complained to Sutter County supervisors that metal detectors at county buildings are so sensitive they are being set off by underwire bras.
Sutter County Taxpayers Association member Roberta Fletcher said the male security guard seemed to enjoy waving the handheld metal detector over her chest.
"It is, at a minimum, for a woman, embarrassing. And at a maximum, it is sexual harassment to hold your arms outstretched while a male officer waves a wand in front of your breasts," Fletcher told supervisors at their meeting Tuesday.
Sheriff Jim Denney said courthouse guards work for the court system, not the sheriff's department, but defended use of the metal detectors.
"That's the nature of the business — to maintain security," Denney told Fletcher. "I'm not going to answer any more absurd questions."
Fletcher also had little sympathy from board Chairman Larry Munger and other supervisors.
"I don't think it's harassment; it's protection," Munger said.
"Men just don't get it," Fletcher told the supervisors.
This could be an interesting thread.
Your thoughts ladies?
I hate underwires. So no problem for me!!!
[Don't ask me how I know this]
It happened to me at Dulles Airport but thankfully it was a woman who checked the underwire.
I know what I wanna do for my next job. But the hell with the wand. I think the use of hands is best.
I knew I could count on you, Max.
Your amateur night shift OB/GYN job doens't keep you busy enough?
Underwire bras, steel-toe boots, the foil in packages of cigarettes, prosthetic hips or knees, all those can set off a metal detector. It's not that reliable or controllable a technology, it's just an "aid". Would the little lady prefer to be patted down?
The way it works is we ask somebody to go through the detector a couple or three times. If it continues to give an alarm, we ask them to face away from us and we pass the wand over them. We check if the likely harmless metal does indeed set off the alarm and then we check to see that there is nothing else on the person which also sets off the alarm. The "wanding" takes maybe 5 seconds.
People like this are always comparing the imperfect actual to the perfect but unobtainable. If we had PILES of money we could have both a male and female deputy at the detector. Heck we could have one of whatever imaginable or unimaginable sex the citizenry wanted. We could have itty-bitty alcoves so that Ms. Underwire wouldn't have to be wanded in front of folks.
But in the real world we have a judge and a sheriff who want people scanned before they come into court, we have barely enough deputies to put one at the metal detector, and we do our best. At least once a day (on average) somebody tries to come in with a knife or a handcuff key or contraband to slip to a prisoner. My personal favorite was the guy who came with a nicely rolled doobie in his cigarette pack. One time a lady blew by with a .38 special in her purse. When she was restrained she informed the deputy that her plan for the day was to come to court and kill her husband. Maybe it's a good thing the judges and the sheriff want the metal detector....
Hey lady, no one likes taking their shoes off in the middle of an airport, or having their briefcases rifled through by slack-jawed yokels, but these are the times we live in.
SD
I think spelling it "DOCTER" in you white lab coat was an indicator.
You'd get fired so fast!!!
This woman is probably flattering herself too much.
"It is, at a minimum, for a woman, embarrassing. And at a maximum, it is sexual harassment to hold your arms outstretched while a male officer waves a wand in front of your breasts," Fletcher told supervisors at their meeting Tuesday.
Good grief.
"It is, at a minimum, for a woman, embarrassing. And at a maximum, it is sexual harassment to hold your arms outstretched while a male officer waves a wand in front of your breasts"
Bill Clinton has a new job?!?
Well, of course if he or she is unprofessional, then complain. But one deputy of either sex costs at least twice as one deputy of generic unspecified sex. Something is going to give somewhere. I don't know what a deputy costs per year, but it ain't trivial, once you equip, train, insure, clothe, and so forth. And we have three and sometimes four courtrooms running, with different access routes. So it gets expensive.
What kind of wire is this? #2 rebar?
Just joking.
"Men just don't get it," Fletcher told the supervisors.
Metal detectors, like any other instrumentation, are calibrated using a standard min and max. So wire in a bra, counters in a shoe or change in a pocket that meet or exceed the calibration standard will, correctly, initiate an alarm.
Mrs. Fletcher is the one that "don't get it".
"in you" should have read "on your"
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