Originally Posted by
Dovster
I believe that a police officer does not have to tell me my Miranda rights until such time as I am under arrest, isn't that right?
That's correct, and anything you say before being Mirandized is, generally, not going to be admissible.
Indeed, if an LEO sees me with an unlit, hand rolled, cigarette but has no reason beyond its looks to suspect that it is marijuana he is free to ask me if it is.
Yep.
I am free to ignore his question and walk away.
And he's free to detain you and examine the hand-rolled cigarette that was in plain sight. That is "reasonable suspicion."
The TSA screener, who can not arrest me, is therefore free to ask whatever he wants -- and I am free to refuse to answer.
A policeman who asks substantive questions pre-Mirandizing is going to get a stern lecture from his sergeant. A TSO has no business asking coercive questions because they perform absolutely no useful function.