Originally Posted by
jkhuggins
That isn't quite what I was trying to ask; the identity of the owner of the bag isn't where I'm heading with this. Let me rephrase.
Suppose you're on the X-ray and you see what appears to be a stash of drugs in a bag. As I understand your procedures, you're not allowed to call for a bag check just because you suspect there are drugs in the bag. How hard would it be for you to find another, defensible reason to call for a bag check on that bag? Something along the lines of "gee, that looks like a screwdriver that's under seven inches, but maybe we should pull the bag anyways to check how long it really is" ... and now you've created an excuse to find the drugs.
Basically, I'm wondering if an overzealous TSA could find a way to conduct primary searches for things outside of TSA's official scope, yet justify them on the basis of permitted actions.
“you see what appears to be a stash of drugs in a bag”. Sorry, I guess there is a point of reference issue here. It is not possible to “see” a stash of drugs on the XRay. I can see pills because I have seen enough of them to recognize what the colors and shapes on the screen represent. I can see organics, and based upon the shape or density I can determine what that organic is most likely to be. I cannot tell the difference between pot and many other organic substances. Its just not possible. I know that certain suspect substances have a particular type of image on the screen, and while shape and density can give me clues as to what it might be I cannot tell for certain what that object is.
Example: A hair drier (standard pistol format) does not look like a hair drier on the XRay screen. But given the position of the components, the density of the parts, and the other things that actually make up a hair drier, I can usually tell what that object is. If someone brings a hair drier shaped like a telephone then I will not be able to determine what that object is and will most likely pull the bad for a check.
Could an overzealous TSO find a way to conduct a search on each and every bag that comes through his / her Xray? Sure we can. Why? The average XRay Operator see’s about 200 bags in their current rotation to the XRay, and there is absolutely no way we are going to call a bag check on every single bag unless directed to do so by higher authority. We would need to double man the entire checkpoint just to conduct the bag searches.