Originally Posted by
FWAAA
The TSA has an irrational mindset that bags suddenly become highly unstable and might detonate at any moment once something is "found" and I don't see that ridiculous SOP changing. As soon as something "suspicious" is seen on the screen or the ETD, the SOP is to clear everyone away. Just like this week's LAX T-2 incident with fake novelty mortar rounds.
Doesn't matter that the odds of something actually exploding are too small to bother calculating - the "think of the children" and "anything is ok if it keeps us safe from (nonexistent) bombs" crowd will preach "safety" over sanity and rational response.
I agree that there are too many terminal dumps being done for no reason, but not every dump or evacuation is called for by TSA. Last October, while I was working at PHL checkpoint B, a TSO found 2 M-80's in a passengers bag. The Police were called over and the LEO took control of the bag and screening continued. As soon as the PPD Bomb Squad Officer arrived, he got very angry that the area had not been evacuated and screamed at the top of his lungs to "get everyone the F*** out of here." At that point we had to send all the people away and establish a perimeter of 300 feet from the checkpoint. more members of the Bomb Squad arrived 10 minutes later to examine the M-80's and render them safe. After 45 minutes, we were able to re-open. Now I know that this was a real explosive, but they were basically fireworks that were under control of a LEO and were in no way going to cause danger to anyone. My opinion is the Officer overreacted, but he knows alot more about that stuff than I do.