Originally Posted by
TSORon
Just how many of those passengers would go and review all those rules and policies prior to approaching a checkpoint?
All the rules? Probably none. Not everyone needs to know every rule every time they fly; but they need to know they can find the rules when they need them. I don't know every motor vehicle law in my state by heart ... but if I need to know whether or not I can turn left on red onto a one-way street, I know I can find a definitive answer if I look hard enough. Similarly, I haven't needed to know the rules about carrying cremated remains aboard an aircraft (thank goodness). But I'm glad to see that those particular rules are published, if I should ever find myself in that position.
But perhaps the most important reason for publishing the rules is this: in the event that a "dispute" happens between a TSO and a passenger over a particular procedure, there would be a public, objective standard to use in evaluating whether the TSO or passenger was wrong (or both). Right now, that standard doesn't exist.
And having public rules would help TSOs as well --- perhaps more than it helps passengers. During the famous "nipple-gate" incident, the TSOs involved were roundly criticized for their actions. It only became clear much later, by reading "between-the-lines" of the public statements of TSA and some TSOs, that the TSOs were following an unpublished SOP which did not permit them to take the most obvious action to resolve the conflict. The TSOs involved took a lot of abuse that they didn't deserve, and the TSA left them out there to take the hits. That's not fair to them.
Originally Posted by
TSORon
We cant even get them to read the signs we place in their way, or listen to the announcements the PA system is shouting at them every 30 seconds.
Back in the Forensics club in high school, I was taught something: if you emphasize everything, you emphasize nothing. Of course people are going to ignore the continuously-running PA announcements; they are repeated so often that people consciously tune them out as background noise. TSA might consider repeating them
less often.
“Noble outcomes”, interesting phrase. I prefer any outcome that does not involve another terrorist attack.
But, again, not every end justifies the means. It was fear of terrorist attacks in the wake of the
Reichstag fire that led von Hindenburg to
suspend civil liberties in Germany, as a precursor to the rise of
Nazi Germany. I don't think we want to make that mistake again.
(aside: yes, I know I'm flirting with Godwin's Law here, but I think this analogy qualifies for the exception)