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Jan 1, 2010 | 5:28 pm

#128

gsoltso

Join Date: Oct 2008

Location: Greensboro

Programs: TSA

Posts: 2,496

Quote:

Originally Posted by pmocek

Ron, I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that you're misunderstanding me and not being intentionally obtuse. To clarify: I'm not specifically discussing your game of fetch that comes after one of your associates sees something interesting. I'm talking about the entire search, beginning with one of you opening a bag or looking inside with an X-ray machine, and ending when you -- TSA staff -- stop examining the bag.

When you -- meaning TSA airport passenger- and bag-searching staff -- search someone's bag, you will "intend" to look for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries, but while you're doing so, you'll also keep an eye out for any of several other things, including drugs, wads of cash, and evidence of credit card fraud or immigrations violations, right? You'll ignore most everything in those bags, but if you find weapons, explosives, incendiaries, drugs, or any of several other things, then you'll take action, right?

When you checkpoint staffers find something that looks to you like illegal drugs, your next step will be exactly the same as it would be if you'd found something that looked like a weapon, right? If while "intending to" search for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries, you find weapons, explosives, incendiaries, drugs, or any of several other things, then you'll stop what you're doing and call a supervisor, right?

It would take some serious mental gymnastics to consider that what you and your associates do is a search for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries, and not a search for drugs, credit card fraud, immigrations violations, and likely a number of other possible indications of wrongdoing.

Let me interject something here. The search is for the specific threat items, period. There is no search for drugs, cash or anything specific that is not on the prohib list. When the bag is screened, we are searching for prohibs ONLY. When something is noticed on the Xray as a possible threat item, it is further screened with a bag check. If during the process of finding that identified item, something else is found (read drugs, child porn, anything that would be construed as a possible violation of law outside of the WEI) then it is referred to the STSOs. There is no bag check for drugs or money. They are not something that is a specific "look for it" item. Sometimes a large amount of cash can appear to be similiar to organic substances (like explosives) and that means it needs to be cleared. Once the money is cleared (meaning that no threat items are found with it) it is allowed to go. If I am clearing an item that looks like a gun or knife or something consistent with bomb components and I find a bag of crack or dope or a handful of kiddie porn, I will refer it to the STSO, period. No confusion, no hemming and hawing, no fishing expeditions or trying to gank the doper - just a referral to the STSO if something that may be illegal is found incidental to the search for a possible prohib.

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