Originally Posted by Bart

I agree. For almost 10 years now, TSOs have been conditioned to conduct risk avoidance screening. That means focusing on items rather than the intent of the people who have those items. I don't foresee intentionally allowing knives, for instance, to be carried through the checkpoint as permitted items. However, if an off-duty law enforcement officer processing through as a regular passenger happens to have a pocketknife in his or her carry-on, what's the big deal? That LEO has been vetted by the appropriate city/state jurisdiction as a peace officer. Clearly, he or she does not have the intent of harming any passengers or bringing down the plane. The cultural change is to look at the specific circumstances and make a common sense decision. I think the workforce is capable of applying that discretion but it's going to take some time in terms of making the cultural change and, more significantly, for upper management to TRUST the on-the-floor decisions made by officers.