Originally Posted by
ND Sol
Is 49 CFR 1542 applicable to non-covered persons?
The searches are administrative in nature and, as such, must be tailored narrowly as otherwise they are violative of the Fourth Amendment.
The only applicable statement to outside the screening checkpoint in your quote is "TSA uses unpredictable security measures throughout the airport." That can (and most probably does) mean something different than your conclusion of "a random screening element throughout the airport" of non-covered persons.
We read all the time that TSOs have no right to detain non-covered persons such that posters regularly state that in TSA drills they refuse to freeze and keep on walking. It would be incongruous to state that it is okay to keep walking when ordered to freeze, but it is not okay when a TSO wants to detain you for a purely random physical search.
Why can't you just take a photo of the signage at your airport and post it. That way we can actually see the verbiage and not conjecture about it.
Once again, how many searches of persons have you done without their consent past the checkpoint and not part of the boarding process where you had no reasonable suspicion of wrongdoing?
Bottom line, a higher standard to conduct a search of a non-covered person is required if that person is not proceeding through the screening checkpoint or is not boarding an aircraft.
All searches conducted at the airport by TSA, are part of the regulatory scheme. They are clearly defined in regulation, are implemented according to those regulations and are used at several locations throughout the airport. The signage is posted so that folks are aware that searches are not just conducted at the checkpoint areas.
As I explained above, I do not post images I am unable to find online at one of our sites (for the most part). That goes double for official signage - if it isn't on a TSA site, I will not post it.
I have never conducted a search without consent - I have had situations where passengers chose not to participate in the screening process and were denied entry into the sterile area. I have also been in situations where a passenger chose not to participate in additional screening (again, conducted as part of the regulatory scheme) at the gate area and was denied boarding, and escorted out of the sterile area by LEOs.
There is no higher standard required for a search past the checkpoint area, merely that the searches being conducted in the sterile area comport with the regulatory scheme or design.