Originally Posted by
jkhuggins
But clearly TSOs aren't report everything that they discover that might be illegal. I've made this argument before. If my carry-on bag contains a large collection of really poorly, amateurly labeled DVDs, and you've decided to search it for other (legitimate) reasons and find my DVDs, I've given you some evidence that I may be breaking copyright law. But I'd be terribly surprised if you used that as a basis to call over a STSO/LEO. On the other hand, if instead of my pile of DVDs you find a large bag of white powder, you're almost certainly going to call an STSO/LEO.
The point is this: as I understand it, TSOs have been directed to report certain types of suspected illegal activity to an STSO/LEO for further action, but not others. This leaves TSA (the agency) open to charges that it is, at some level, actually looking for particular forms of illegal activity outside the scope of a search for WEI.
That is a good point, however we do not have the direction, nor a ready way to have the LEO verify the items like we do with certain other illegal items. We do not have a lab with DVD players to ascertain whether the information actually contained on the DVDs is copyrighted material, we also do not have the immediate ability to verify whether the person ahs the express written permission of the studio to reproduce the items (heck I would type one up on the "studio" letterhead and stick it with them just to confuse someone). I understand the point you are making and it is a valid point, the problem is we do not have the equipment nor the localized resources to readily investigate that type of possible illegality. The stuff we are told to report if found are things that an average person finding them on the street would report to a LEO on their own (or at least that is my personal opinion based on what we are to report). There could be counterfeit colognes, tools, shoes, and any myriad other items that are actually illegal, that we would never notice. None of those items are easily resolved at a checkpoint (whereas the items listed for referral are). The kiddie porn thing is fairly obvious, most TSOs are not going to report images of persons with a mature appearance, only those that are pretty young. Drugs (which seems to be a focus of many people here) are fairly easy to remedy in about 5 minutes (as most LEOs have training specified to identify illicit drugs and such, and many of them have testing kits readily available). We also do not have cooperative requests or agreements with the entertainment industry like we do with DEA, local LEOs and other agencies under the federal umbrella.