Originally Posted by
ButIsItArt
One of the thoughts that came to my mind stems from my own experiences of riding the Metro every day, very often with a TSO in uniform also in the same car. WMATA has its own police force, and AFAIK TSA has no jurisdiction on the Metro. And with TSO's having to surrender their badges when off duty, it would imply that their use of the Metro carries no further obligations. However, suppose either a rogue TSO starts flashing a badge in the Metro, or the reverse, a good TSO coming off his/her shift at DCA witnesses a crime on Metro property, but has no authority to respond with force, even though protecting WMATA pax and property could be construed to be broadly within TSA's scope of authority? That could get messy
I had to go back and read the above article, because your statement that the TSO's had to surrender their badges when off duty was a new one to me. Maybe I missed it, but I read it that the TSO's were "barred from wearing them" when not working. Slight difference. (Not that if matters much, it still means that they are not to be abused). Anyway, I ride the train to and from the airport sometimes. Full uniform, but usually covered up with a sweatshirt. I consider myself just a regular citizen, and as a citizen I have gotten involved in certain situations on the train. On one instance, I was riding in a car with two young (12-13 yrs) girls. There was a much older punk (20-ish) making rude/gross/uncomfortable/obscene comments to them. Even tho I was in uniform (covered up) I sure wasn't gonna watch those girls start to cry. Was I a rogue screener? Or just an adult (yuck! I hate that word to describe myself) stepping in to help out the girls? I didn't have to use any force, I am not a big person by any means, but if the kid turned out to be crazy...I would have defended myself.