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! ;-)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.