Originally Posted by saizai

FWIW, there's pretty much zero point in doing that. Citizen's arrest requires you to turn the arrestee over to the nearest cop or judge. If the cops nearby don't want to take them in the first place, all you've done is opened yourself up to more liability.



More specifically, write down absolutely everything that's on visible badges, the number of epaulettes, and get photos / video / audio if you can. (You have access to your phone after you're cleared. Use it.)



That part is not entirely true. Only applies if the STSO is filing an incident report, and you have no say in whether or not they do that. They have no obligation for witnesses. Remember, they claim in court that they are not authorized to investigate or seize evidence for anything. It's purely internal, and expect it to be 100% CYA.

FWIW, this is another reason why I very strongly recommend that you have video+audio recording running every single time you go through TSA checkpoint, in advance. If nothing happens, no worries, you can delete it. If something happens, you have evidence that otherwise would've been damn near impossible to get. CCTV has no audio, and TSA screeners will distort, omit key facts, or just lie outright in their written statements.

There's nothing better than hard evidence.