Originally Posted by
Bart
Strictly speaking, you are correct. TSA officers do not have the authority to detain anyone. However, they DO have the authority to deny access beyond the checkpoint to anyone who has not been properly cleared through screening. This is not detention because that person can turn around and leave the screening area towards the public side. However, if, for example, that person had a knife and left before the supervisor was able to resolve the matter, the airport LEOs would stop the individual and they would detain/arrest the individual. LEOs have the authority to detain people involved in unresolved security matters. If it turns out that a crime was committed, then they can arrest them.
And yes, it is a deliberate process spelled out in the SOP.
rustyhaight has backed down on this, and since I have no credentials at all (not a lawyer, not an LEO or former LEO, not a screener, not even that frequent a flyer any more), I have to bow to rustyhaight's authority to interpret this situation.
However, I am still stuck on
Bart's interpretation above.
Leave out the knife. Assume I am Steve Beirfeldt, and I just don't want to have a confrontation about $4,700 in a lock box. Rather than deal with the screener and the St. Louis Airport cop,
and rather than politely asking "Am I legally required to answer your question?", I choose to go seek out the airlines GSC and get his or her help in navigating the security checkpoint.
If I calmly, Beifeldt-like, collect my things, explain this search is over and I am now going to confer with the GSC, and start walking back toward the public side of the airport, what will happen next? What will the screener do, what will the screener's supervisor do, and what will the LEO do?