When I fly in a couple of weeks, I plan to ask the ID checking clerk how Harry Rodman is doing these days.

^^^^^^^^^

Probably he can't be fired for being arrested, but I do believe he has an obligation to show up for work. Since he's presently incarcerated, that makes meeting a work obligation a tad difficult. I don't know a single employer that can't/won't dismiss an employee for not showing up for work. I don't know why the TSA management doesn't understand this. I'm pretty sure that this situation is not covered under the FMLA.

This shows why the TSA should not issue badges and "police-like" appearing uniforms.

Everybody here knows that you are more likely to die driving to the airport, struck by lightning, etc. than be killed in a terrorist attack. Somebody should come up the statistics that show how much more likely you will be sexually assaulted or have something stolen, etc. by a TSA employee than die in a terrorist attack. That would be fun to put on a t-shirt and wear to the airport.

Something similar happened at my company, a large Fortune 500 firm with about 20k employees. A guy got arrested on a felony, fairly serious. He was terminated two days later. He technically wasn't terminated for the arrest, he was terminated for job abandonment. The guy couldn't make bail and company policy was if you miss more than two days without a valid excuse then you're gone. Now even if he had made bail I'm sure they would have fired him anyway, but this gave them a convenient excuse.

Feds are a bit different, but in some states a mere arrest is sufficient cause to fire a person. Given that this person is in a position of "public trust" AND that part of a screener's duties are to grope people, it ought to be grounds to dismiss.

(Duly noted that even Global Entry can be revoked for this sort of thing....)

Forgive my inexperience, but I've never traveled outside the US - what do the screeners wear in other countries? What sort of uniforms? Badges? Nametags? Photo IDs? Etc.

I'd like to see TSOs universally decked out in polo shirts, with differing colors for TSO, LTSO, and STSO, with photo IDs prominently displayed on the left breast, and a larger pin-on nameplate on the right with name, rank and an employee ID number that can be used for filing compliments or complaints. AFSDs, FSDs, and other high-level executives could wear suits, but they'd still have to wear the ID prominently on the left breast and the nameplate on the right. People at car rental places have been wearing nameplates on blazers for decades; there is no reason why a high-ranking federal executive with the power to deny your right to unrestricted interstate travel without due process of law couldn't also wear his ID in a clear and consistent manner.

But the current faux police uniform and badge getup is what you get when you appoint a law enforcement professional with little or no security experience to head a security agency instead of a law enforcement agency.

Some people just can't tell the difference between screening, safety, security, screening, law enforcement, criminal investigation, and forced compliance with instructions; to Pistole (as with many Americans, unfortunately), all of these things are the same.

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry8830/4.5.0.138 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/105)

They will probably let him burn up his annual leave and then revert to a leave-without-pay status. There's another category called "excused absence" or "administrative leave" which are involuntary absences. The admin leave this slug is on can be with or without pay. It's all a function of his management.

Oh, no, no, no, no, no...don't do that! They would view that as a statement of success for their security theater:"You see? You are not likely to be killed in a terrorist attack all because of our dilligent virtual strip-searchin/body groping security farce...er...force!!

A short quote:
"Harry Rodman of Manassas" has to be the Aptonym of the Year!

And I'd point out that when I refused to go through the strip-search machine at Dulles last week, it very well could have been Harold the (alleged) rapist in the little room looking at all the naked women. I'm glad I didn't show myself naked to a rapist. I can't comprehend how anyone believes the TSA when they claim taking naked pictures to show to rapists is what makes us safe!

Interesting thought. I think I might try a little elicitation technique on a couple of unsuspecting screening clerks and try to find out where he worked. Shouldn't be too hard, provided I can find somebody who knows the guy.

what are the odds that if they find images of pax at Rodman's house the government will cover it up?

also, it should be obvious that Rodman saw the behavior of the pax at the airport (doing whatever they were told by blue shirts) and got the idea it would also work outside the airport.

and it did.

That was my reaction as soon as I saw the photo.

^^

I'm flying next Thursday. I'll do the same thing.

+1

MALE (uniformed) policemen in all U.S. states are foribidden to wear earrings. And are required to have haircuts of a certain, appropriate length, (no dreadlocks, or long hair for male uniformed cops - undercover is another story).

When you factor in the U.S. military, the requirements for dress, conduct, (no hands in pockets in public, when in uniform), and so on, it's even more ridiculous to look at 99% of TSA agents and take them with any seriousness.

The TSA is a complete joke, all in all.