Originally Posted by
FliesWay2Much
I would think that virtually all airport police departments would gladly contact the right people to preserve the video. The other advantage you have is that you can report a theft at the same time.
Yes, the airport PD and the Ops Dept work closely together on requests like this - on bad weeks it's a daily occurrence.
Saizai is correct but I have a little quibble with the apparent emphasis in his comments - you must be sure to send the request
to the Airport. Do not rely on sending it to the TSA. While it is good practice to send a copy of the request to the TSA and the PD to put them on notice, it is the Airport Operator and specifically the Operations Department that controls the video and who must actually produce the footage.
Note that at some airports the PD may be a completely separate entity from the Airport Operator.
And as Saizai points out - when TSA fails to comply with the law the only recourse for remedy (usually an unsatisfactory one if eventually you prevail) is a lawsuit.