Originally Posted by studentff

Huh? Carrying a human head is almost certain indication of a crime. In fact, I'm pretty sure carrying a human head is a crime in most jurisdictions that have rules about proper disposal/treatment of human remains. I expect TSA to report to a LEO if they see pax carrying a human head in carry-on. If I see one of my fellow pax carrying a human head, I'll get a cop myself.

Carrying cash is not the same because it is not a crime or even likely indicator of a crime. I might support the idea of a screener reporting someone carrying cash hidden in their socks/shoes because it is acting suspicious, but if a pax has a brick of cash in their briefcase/bag and is not doing anything else to raise eyebrows, they should be left alone.

The stupidity of the cash reporting seizure rules amazes me, and it may concern me personally soon. Sometime in the next year I will be moving. When that happens, I will need to move my personal coin-collection and gold/silver-bullion coin collection. Somewhere between $4,000-$8,000 worth of coins depending on how you value them; nothing huge but enough to raise suspicion (or look valuable) to an untrained eye. If it weren't for the possibility of TSA going wacky, my first choice of how to move the collection would be on a flight in my carry-on bags (vs. mailing it registered to someone at my destination). But I'm concerned about doing that because some hero-wannabe screener might report me to a LEO. Jeesh.

I'm not as extreme as some posters on this issue. If screeners see evidence of a crime in the course of a normal security search (weapons, material matching a police bulletin, human head, even drugs), then I think they should call a LEO. But I don't think TSA should be searching specifically for these items. And I really don't think they should be calling LEOs to report perfectly legal activity.



Actually I'm more worried that these bad guys will get off on a technicality because a smart lawyer will argue the TSA shouldn't have reported the guys if the only suspicion TSA had was carrying cash. The sad thing is that left to legitimate means, smart law-enforcement might very well have caught the guys using good old-fashioned legal police work.

I really hate it when criminals get off for reasons like this, but in this case I'll have to root for the defense and a reign-in on overzealous TSA internal-border-control checkpoints.