While I agree with the sentiment that security personnel and other people in authority positions (no matter what level) should not abuse their powers, it goes against human nature to expect this will never happen. This is especially true if you are trying to do an unpopular job and are constantly being criticized, ridiculed, and belittled for trying to do it.

A friend of mine was a traffic (police) officer. He was and is a consummate professional. I never saw him lose his temper, even in situations where it required saintlike patience not to do so. One day I was covering him (providing stand-by assistance) on a traffic stop. The violator had been stopped for speeding, but had a number of other non-moving violations with regard to his vehicle, driver's license, insurance, etc. The officer handling the stop had considerable discretion as to whether warn the violator for these, or issue citations. Each violation required a separate citation form. While my friend was preparing the citations, the violator delivered a running stream of invective on our personal, professional, and organizational incompetence, capriciousness, lack of ethics, immorality, inferior intelligence, etc. My friend merely nodded and kept writing. After several minutes, the light bulb went on, and the violator asked my friend, "You're just going to keep writing as long as I talk, aren't you?" My friend nodded. The violator shut up, my friend completed the citation he was working on, documents were signed and returned, and everyone was on their way.

Yes, these people (traffic cops, ID checkers, TSOs, etc.) can be petty and officious, but so can the passengers they are dealing with. Most of the workers are just doing the job that they are paid to do. The way that they do it is largely determined by someone higher up in the pecking order, and they can't do anything about it. They want to get to the end of the day and pick up their paycheck, much like most of the rest of us. If you want to change the system, complaining to or about the working stiff is unlikely to do much except make both of your lives more difficult.

The same trafic officer I spoke of had a little sticker on the back of his citation book: "Do not [expletive] with the alligator until after you have negotiated the swamp."