Originally Posted by
pmocek
...and you dodged every question again. These are mostly simple yes/no questions about your stated and implied opinions, and about the job you do as a public servant. Why won't you answer?
- Do you agree that when you look in a bag and ignore everything except for certain things, that amounts to a search for those things?
- Do you treat things that appear to be illegal drugs the same as things that look like weapons when searching people and their belongings, alerting a supervisor in each case?
- What difference does it make if you're "looking for possible threats" or looking for potatoes, when you're going to take the same action in either case if you find weapons, explosives, incendiaries, drugs, or a number of other things?
- How do these two differ? 1) "actively searching" for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries while passively searching for drugs and other possible indicators of wrongdoing, and while ignoring most other possible indicators of wrongdoing, and 2) actively searching for weapons, explosives, incendiaries, drugs, and other possible indicators of wrongdoing, while ignoring most other possible indicators of wrongdoing.
- You wrote, "IF there is nothing in the bag that looks like a threat or possible threat, then the bag rolls on," then in the same post, wrote, "When I am searching and see something that looks like illegal drugs, I refer to a supervisor, period." How do you reconcile these contradictory statements about your duties?
- What would you do if were hand-searching someone's bag and you saw three cameras along with photographs of that person smashing a store window, crawling through the hole, and leaving with a bag of cameras?
- Do you think that possession of small amounts of marijuana by adults is a bigger deal -- more cause for investigation and punishment -- than stealing things from other people is?
- Do you acknowledge that TSA proudly announces the fact that it finds evidence of identity theft, credit card fraud, passport fraud, immigrations violations, and possession of controlled substances, when "searching for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries"?
- Do you feel it's appropriate for you to use your search for WEI as a chance to find drugs, credit card fraud, immigrations violations, and other indications of wrongdoing that have ABSOLUTELY no affect on airline security?
- Do you suppose we could find even more evidence of wrongdoing than we do now if we allowed our government agents to stop everyone who passes other places -- highway entrance ramps, for instance -- and search them for evidence of wrongdoing?
- Do you acknowledge that our courts have ruled that fishing expeditions such as they hypothetical TSA highway entrance ramp "screening checkpoint" described above are unconstitutional, and that in this nation, we aren't supposed to stop all the good people just to look for the few bad people?
Ron, you fell silent. Care to continue the conversation you started? You've made some bold claims, then when challenged to explain yourself, failed to say another word.
1. Not necessarily. The search is for a specific identified item(s), the finding of something else in the process is not the same as actively searching for it.
2. In my position as a TSO, the response is the same, notify an STSO.
3. Potatoes are not a threat or illegal, therefore no action is required, the other items you list require further action.
4. I am not certain that I completely understand the question, please elaborate.
5. I reconcile that by explaining (again), that if I am on the xray and there is nothing that appears to be a possible threat, the bag continues on with no further screening. If I am searching a bag for an item identified as a possible threat (by the xray operator), then I am to go into the bag and clear that threat. If I am in the process of clearing the bag and find illegal items, they are to be referred to the STSO.
6. Clear the bag (if no threat is there) and send the passenger on their way. We are not law enforcement and have no cooperative agreements pursuant to possible thefts identified photographically.
7. I think that both should be prosecuted under the law based on the punishments posted in the geographic location they are. There is no difference in importance, both are illegal where I am (and in most locations in the United States) and both should be pursued with the same vigor.
8. I acknowledge that TSA posts information on items found while performing their duty.
9. I feel that if illegal items are found while performing our duty, and we have been instructed to report them, we should report them.
10. Of course there would be an opportunity to find more evidence of illegal activities and items. However, we do not set up onramp checkpoints and I have not heard of any plans to begin doing so.
11. The court decisions I have seen, indicate that the individuals performing the searches, overstepped their boundaries and were corrected. I have seen nothing that indicates that items found while specifically looking for possible threats (as opposed to looking specifically for something else in the bag) is incorrect at this point.