TSA Human Trafficking Interrogations
Nov 15, 2017 | 2:22 am
#121
Join Date: Nov 2017
Posts: 1
Spoke with my wife after she cleared security at IAH for a flight to ORD. She said she insisted on only whispering her name softly for her own security and the TSA guy was like, "Whatever!" But the crazy part was the lady in front of her traveling with a small child, a boy about 3-4 who was asked to speak his name out loud.
Wow, I feel so much safer now!
Wow, I feel so much safer now!
Nov 15, 2017 | 3:35 am
#122
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Yes, they still do this. I’ve seen the TSA characters at both those mentioned airports repeatedly ask even 2 year old children for their name or to see how the children respond to the TSA’s public reading (including bizarre pronunciations) of the printed names.
Given the history of kidnapping and related murders of children in Houston (think Adam Walsh) and in Chicago, and given that children tend to let down their guard when someone knows their name, this kind of TSA approach ought to seems more counterproductive than productive to the locals. And yet this “security” nonsense from the TSA continues in the name of “think of the children”.
Given the history of kidnapping and related murders of children in Houston (think Adam Walsh) and in Chicago, and given that children tend to let down their guard when someone knows their name, this kind of TSA approach ought to seems more counterproductive than productive to the locals. And yet this “security” nonsense from the TSA continues in the name of “think of the children”.
Nov 5, 2018 | 12:24 pm
#125
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There is a lot of nonsense coming from airlines, airport security screeners and even passport control types being done in the name of anti-child-trafficking initiatives. Just a couple of days ago, I had to school the German police and LH airline rep that there is no German law or relevant airline COC requirement for a parent to transit Germany internationally with their own child in the accompaniment of the other parent(s) and/or with some easily-faked authorization letter from the other parent(s). Same goes for TSA asking for ID from children, Ill help to try to school the TSA in what is not required. Same goes for TSA trying to engage in conversation with young children who know about stranger-danger and have a much higher innate ability to tell who is good and who is not than the average adult.
Nov 26, 2018 | 4:13 am
#127
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Nov 26, 2018 | 8:14 am
#128
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If parents lost a child, I wouldnt want to count on the TSA doing much of any good by asking stupid questions as a reliable means of recovering the child. If parents get livid at the TSA for not stopping unlawful child trafficking, then the parents have other problems than just the missing child and are doing themselves and their child a disservice. The TSAs competency is not in effectively interdicting unlawful child trafficking. The TSA can barely stop contraband weapons, explosives and incendiaries because its too distracted wasting resources on checking ID, asking questions and demanding all sorts of ridiculous things of passengers instead of just using the WTMD reliably and screening more effectively for explosives and incendiaries.
Nov 26, 2018 | 10:01 am
#129
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
Here's what AskTSA has to say:
Asking kids their names should be a dead-giveaway to any potential trafficker.
642. Training for Department personnel to identify human trafficking
(a) In general
Not later than 180 days after May 29, 2015, the Secretary shall implement a program to-
(1) train and periodically retrain relevant Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other Department personnel that the Secretary considers appropriate, with respect to how to effectively deter, detect, and disrupt human trafficking, and, where appropriate, interdict a suspected perpetrator of human trafficking, during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities; and
(2) ensure that the personnel referred to in paragraph (1) regularly receive current information on matters related to the detection of human trafficking, including information that becomes available outside of the Department's initial or periodic retraining schedule, to the extent relevant to their official duties and consistent with applicable information and privacy laws.
(b) Training described
The training referred to in subsection (a) may be conducted through in-class or virtual learning capabilities, and shall include-
(1) methods for identifying suspected victims of human trafficking and, where appropriate, perpetrators of human trafficking;
(2) for appropriate personnel, methods to approach a suspected victim of human trafficking, where appropriate, in a manner that is sensitive to the suspected victim and is not likely to alert a suspected perpetrator of human trafficking;
(3) training that is most appropriate for a particular location or environment in which the personnel receiving such training perform their official duties;
(4) other topics determined by the Secretary to be appropriate; and
(5) a post-training evaluation for personnel receiving the training.
(a) In general
Not later than 180 days after May 29, 2015, the Secretary shall implement a program to-
(1) train and periodically retrain relevant Transportation Security Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and other Department personnel that the Secretary considers appropriate, with respect to how to effectively deter, detect, and disrupt human trafficking, and, where appropriate, interdict a suspected perpetrator of human trafficking, during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities; and
(2) ensure that the personnel referred to in paragraph (1) regularly receive current information on matters related to the detection of human trafficking, including information that becomes available outside of the Department's initial or periodic retraining schedule, to the extent relevant to their official duties and consistent with applicable information and privacy laws.
(b) Training described
The training referred to in subsection (a) may be conducted through in-class or virtual learning capabilities, and shall include-
(1) methods for identifying suspected victims of human trafficking and, where appropriate, perpetrators of human trafficking;
(2) for appropriate personnel, methods to approach a suspected victim of human trafficking, where appropriate, in a manner that is sensitive to the suspected victim and is not likely to alert a suspected perpetrator of human trafficking;
(3) training that is most appropriate for a particular location or environment in which the personnel receiving such training perform their official duties;
(4) other topics determined by the Secretary to be appropriate; and
(5) a post-training evaluation for personnel receiving the training.
Last edited by petaluma1; Nov 26, 2018 at 10:33 am
Nov 30, 2018 | 5:35 pm
#130
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It's interesting that they have finally admitted that they are doing this. I wonder what made them do this on AskTSA? (One part of me would like to think that we had something to do with it.) I wonder if it was as a morale booster (such as it is) among the clerkforce? Face it, the ID checkers have a pretty boring job, so, why not make them think they are on the front lines of the War on Kids Traveling with Parents in addition to the War on Terror and the War on Drugs?
I think the next thing for us to do is to keep our collective ears to the rail about reports of TSA clerks harassing, detaining, or even holding for arrest, parents trying to travel by air with their kids. Staring down kids and asking them to state their names and destination is harassment enough, but it will only get worse as the pressure gets put on the TSA and the individual clerks to "detect" human trafficking. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a mandatory evaluation criterion in each clerk's performance plan.
I think the next thing for us to do is to keep our collective ears to the rail about reports of TSA clerks harassing, detaining, or even holding for arrest, parents trying to travel by air with their kids. Staring down kids and asking them to state their names and destination is harassment enough, but it will only get worse as the pressure gets put on the TSA and the individual clerks to "detect" human trafficking. I wouldn't be surprised if it's a mandatory evaluation criterion in each clerk's performance plan.
Last edited by TWA884; Nov 30, 2018 at 6:19 pm Reason: Merge consecutive posts by the same member
Dec 1, 2018 | 2:54 am
#131
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I would call it the TSAs racist and sexist war on kids traveling lawfully with one or more relatives.
Career specialists in interdicting child trafficking make lots of mistakes in falsely identifying suspects/targets of child trafficking, so I doubt the TSA does it any better with the limited exposure they have to working in this area. If anything, I expect the TSA to do it worse since the TSA tries to do too much with too many aimed at too many and do everything worse because of it.
I'm curious what TSA's training actually entails. I have no problem with TSA workers being given awareness training of human trafficking, but it shouldn't be something that's part of their supposed mission to proactively police, as you said it's not what their core competency is (err...should be anyway). At my gov't agency we're given annual human trafficking awareness training (we deal with oversight of contractors who could in theory use trafficked workers). But it's a short computer training session that's only intended to raise awareness so if we happen to see something suspicious, it could be referred to the appropriate authorities for further investigation. I certainly don't consider myself trained in interdiction, nor would it be appropriate to expect that of me. And I definitely don't think TSA's "say your name" bit should be happening.
Dec 1, 2018 | 5:54 am
#132
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
Her rants came in response to this post by another person:
Somehow or another, child trafficking came into the discussion and the now-defunct tweeter said TSA screeners were trained to find children being trafficked and that they received retraining every year. I tweeted that TSA were charged with looking for WEI and nothing more. It was after that that [MENTION=334464]ASK[/MENTION]TSA confirmed their screeners were receiving training in human trafficking.
*I tend to believe she was actually a screener and perhaps was giving away too many TSA "secrets".
However, interestingly, almost as soon as she disappeared, another person popped up on Twitter who says he's a screener at DCA. He calls himself friend and his handle is @friend56801615. Why he is still tweeting if he is a screener is beyond me because he has some fairly harsh criticisms for TSA procedures.
Last edited by petaluma1; Dec 1, 2018 at 6:04 am
Dec 1, 2018 | 2:17 pm
#133
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It started with a post from someone, whose page is no longer available, claiming to have many friends who worked at DCA* and was posting madly in support of all things TSA, .
Her rants came in response to this post by another person:
https://twitter.com/atheenieweenie/s...15522916597762
Somehow or another, child trafficking came into the discussion and the now-defunct tweeter said TSA screeners were trained to find children being trafficked and that they received retraining every year. I tweeted that TSA were charged with looking for WEI and nothing more. It was after that that [MENTION=334464]ASK[/MENTION]TSA confirmed their screeners were receiving training in human trafficking.
*I tend to believe she was actually a screener and perhaps was giving away too many TSA "secrets".
However, interestingly, almost as soon as she disappeared, another person popped up on Twitter who says he's a screener at DCA. He calls himself friend and his handle is @friend56801615. Why he is still tweeting if he is a screener is beyond me because he has some fairly harsh criticisms for TSA procedures.
Her rants came in response to this post by another person:
https://twitter.com/atheenieweenie/s...15522916597762
Somehow or another, child trafficking came into the discussion and the now-defunct tweeter said TSA screeners were trained to find children being trafficked and that they received retraining every year. I tweeted that TSA were charged with looking for WEI and nothing more. It was after that that [MENTION=334464]ASK[/MENTION]TSA confirmed their screeners were receiving training in human trafficking.
*I tend to believe she was actually a screener and perhaps was giving away too many TSA "secrets".
However, interestingly, almost as soon as she disappeared, another person popped up on Twitter who says he's a screener at DCA. He calls himself friend and his handle is @friend56801615. Why he is still tweeting if he is a screener is beyond me because he has some fairly harsh criticisms for TSA procedures.
Dec 1, 2018 | 2:53 pm
#134
Join Date: Aug 2012
Posts: 3,526
Yes -- I saw all the "tweets unavailable" in the conversation, such as it is. Isn't there a way to retrieve deleted twitter messages? Television and newspaper political commentators seem to be able to retrieve deleted messages posted by politicians all the time. I did a search on this Twitter name (@friend56801615) and found some responses to a female passenger who complained about being groped. The responses were well-written, which makes me believe that they were written by a "professional", if you catch my drift.
Yes, friend does seem to write well and yet he claims to be only 19 years old.
Last edited by petaluma1; Dec 1, 2018 at 3:25 pm
Dec 2, 2018 | 8:41 pm
#135
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"Friend" either has to be underestimating his/her age or he/she didn't attend public schools. Too many complete sentences is the first clue.