I don't know. Why would a TSA screener question anyone about a water pipe? Besides, I don't always keep my pills in a bottle. If I feel a migraine coming on, I'll wrap up one or two oxycodone in a tissue and keep them in my pocket -- I don't like to carry a whole bottle of very expensive trip-scrip pills with me when I know I only need one or two. If a LEO, conducting a legal search, asks me what they are, my answer is: "Oxycodone which I take, by prescription, for migraine, officer." If a TSO asks me, my answer is, "None of your business."

That's fine -- you're a LEO. It's your job, and you're trained to do it.

I was just going to say that. I'm not a senior citizen, yet, but I currently take 6 pills every day. I carry my medication in the prescription containers domestically only because I never know when a business trip may wind up being extended, and it's also easier to keep everything I need for a sudden trip in my computer bag. However, I've been tempted to use those dividers, only because it's a pain to have to read the labels on the bottles every morning when I take my medication. Again, if a LEO asks me about it, I'm happy to explain what my pills are and why I take them -- the LEO is doing his or her job (and, for that matter, I'd explain to a customs agent if I was ever asked). I have no intention of discussing my medical conditions with a TSO -- it's none of their business and I haven't yet reached the point in my life where I enjoy discussing my ailments with total strangers.

That's the point, though -- LEOs have the power of arrest, and their job is to enforce the law which includes laws against illegal drugs and drug paraphenalia. I'm absolutely certain that, when you began your law enforcement career, you weren't simply given a gun and a badge and told, "Arrest people with illegal substances. Use your best judgment." I'm sure you attended formal classes in which you learned the drug laws, what to look for in spotting potential violations, how to distinguish between legal and illegal substances, etc. I'm also sure you received instruction on what factors must be present for a legal search, how to conduct it, how to preserve evidence, etc., as well as education on constitutional protections, civil rights, etc. I don't know about other jurisdictions, but I believe the minimum training for a California LEO is at least 6 weeks at an academy.

No TSO has asked us about it because, as of yet, we have it with us only when we return from China. We haven't yet brought any to our friends on domestic trips. You are aware that tea has a distinctive odor, and you're also aware of the what marijuana smells like -- I know that is part of the training of a LEO, i.e. characteristics of illegal substances -- and can readily distinguish between tea, oregano and cannabis.

It depends on what the TSO says to the LEO and whether or not I feel I've been detained by the TSO (who has no powers of arrest). I am under no legal obligation whatsoever to answer any questions asked by a TSO.

And how would the TSO know that? Pu'er is a kind of tea common in the Yunan province. It's fermented and has a unique odor which is not at all like tea. Do you think a TSO would recognize a baggie full of Pu'er as tea?

I've heard of TSOs blatantly getting LEOs involved for all sorts of conduct that, no only wasn't illegal, but was constitutionally protected, e.g. writing "Kip Hawley is an idiot" on their freedom baggie, wearing a t-shirt with a picture of a transformer on it, etc.

I didn't say false arrest. I said false imprisonment. Though it's been a while since I looked at it, my recollection is that the elements of false imprisonment are satisfied if someone takes your possessions and refuses to return them, effectively confining you against your will.

Maybe not with you but, with all due respect, you are a LEO and I am an attorney. It's your judgment call whether or not to arrest someone. It's my judgment call whether I have grounds to pursue legal action against someone.

A citizen's arrest doesn't require a warrant. However, it might be simpler to simply sue for civil damages. The point, though, is this: LEOs have powers that are denied to TSOs. One of the reasons LEOs are given these powers is because they've had specific formal training that lets them function effectively, accurately, and within the limits of the Constitution. Moreover, LEOs are specifically charged with enforcement of the law, and we, as citizens, depend on them to do so. It is for this reason that I am happy to cooperate with a LEO who is doing his job, have always done so, and will always do so.

The job of a TSO is to prevent forbidden items from being brought on aircraft. Period. They are not law enforcement officers and have no specific training that qualifies them to identify items whose possession is illegal, e.g. child pornography, drugs, or other contraband. The fact that they have a uniform and a badge does not allow them to act like auxiliary police (and, in my city, auxiliary police, i.e. civilian volunteers who assist the police, actually attend the police academy before they are allowed to do so). They are, however, agents of the state and have very strict constitutional limits on the powers they may exercise. I have no patience with constitutional violations, regardless of the motive or intent. Others in this thread have characterized the actions of TSA as "police state." That's incorrect -- virtually all police in the U.S. are well aware of, and respect, the Constitutional limits on their power and, on those rare occasions when an individual officer transcends his police power, he's brought to justice. It's not the police in the U.S. that I fear (quite the contrary, I have tremendous respect for the police, who do a difficult, dangerous and very necessary job). It's government bureaucrats like TSA that don't recognize the constitutional limits of their mission and have no qualms at violating the Constitution if the whim suits them. I'm sure most TSOs don't do this but, unlike true LEOs, there is no mechanism in place to protect citizens against abuse of constitutionally-limited government powers by specific TSOs -- police departments have things like Internal Affairs, civilian police review boards, and specific mechanisms for handling civilian complaints. TSA has nothing of the sort -- "complaint forms," if they're even provided vanish into the abyss in the name of "national security." The only mechanism available is redress through the courts.