Why are TSA employees called officers ? I was under the impression that one had to be trained and certified as a federal officer. The tsa people are neither and should be called TSE's.

why do they call security guards security officers now? I think thats the main thing behind it...

I refer to them as clerks. They have neither a warrant or commission, so I think my title is appropriate.

honestly, i couldnt care a less what they call us... ive been called alot worse things lol.

Screeners. Like they used to be called before changing it to mis-percieve PAX.

To help answer your question, read here:

Legislation Proposed to Strip TSA Screeners of Their Officer Title

Equally.. why are Police generally referred to as Officers?

The vast majority of them hold no Warrant or Commission either...

In any case it is just a word... like Doctor...most of the "Doctors" I've spoken to in my life do not have a Doctorate.....

It's a courtesy title... nothing more. So who cares?

Don't think that's quite the right word when discussing checkpoint workers.

There's a big, unbridgeable chasm between calling some folks without M.D.s "doctor" and calling police and TSA "officers".

College professors, chiropractors, D.O.s, and others with years of study and deep knowledge in their fields with the degrees and requisite knowledge to support their insights have earned the respect. They are learned, have spent thousands of their own dollars to acquire their expertise, and readily provide tangible benefits to society on a daily basis. They are also members of professional associations (in most cases, at least) with clearly defined and enforced codes of conduct.

By contrast, a TSA screening clerk need only have a high school diploma or GED (and in some cases doesn't need either). By comparison, these folks are poorly trained, uneducated, and unqualified to provide insights and make judgment calls (hence the TSA SOPs, which the agency insists be followed at all times). In many cases these folks appear to be slow learners; how many times have we heard about people being "retrained" for not understanding or following even simple procedures? (And how hard is it to educated a TDC about Nexus cards and the like - this has been going on for quite some time already.) By comparison to the first group, these people are not (on the average) learned, have not spent thousands of dollars to acquire expertise (DrVry and community college just don't compare here), and do not provide daily tangible benefits to society. From all the reports of crime committed by TS"O"s in and out of uniform, it's clear that there is no professional code of conduct mandated or enforced by TSA.

Police fit into a category that's somewhere in between these two opposites. In many cases I'd say that police have earned the use of a courtesy title - though there are exceptions (mainly those who would be considered to be "bad cops"; you're going to find this in any profession though).

I know for a fact that Federal Law Enforcement Officers of the US Department of Justice take a sworn oath, and carry official photo credentials stating that they are authorized to perform duties as directed by the Attorney General. But on top of that, not all of these law enforcement "sworn" USDOJ employees are called officers. The titles range from Officer, to Agent, Inspector, to Ranger, Marshal, Deputy and the long list of federal law enforcement (enter title here) goes on. It is a fact that payroll CLERKS in the US Federal Bureau of Prisons are law enforcement sworn staff who have attended the Academy at the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Glynco, GA, and collect federal law enforcement pay and pensions. During their normal day they work on payroll. But during a time of crisis such as if an inmate escapes into the community, they strap on a gun and badge and hit the streets side by side with the federal correctional officers who's payroll they manage.

I'm sure other law enforcement bodies within federal, local and state jurisdictions recieve some sort of commissioning to carry out duties of enforcing laws within their jurisdictions, and carry some sort of "commissioning" identification card. It might not be called a "commission," but it's called something. For example, Sheriff's Deputies are "deputized."

Being the fact that they are Federal employees, TSA employees might take an oath to defend the Constitution (you'd have to ask one the TSA-types on here). But whether they do or not, that fact alone does not give them authority to act under statutes that authorizes making arrests in the performance of duties as a real law enforcement OFFICERS have the vested authority to do.

"Commission," warrant," "deputized," "sworn oath," "appointment".......these are all synonomous when it comes to a discussion like this. "Commission" and "warrant" more so refers to military personnel, who are neither police officers nor security officers. In fact, the enlisted ranks E-4 and above are "noncommissioned OFFICERS," so even though they never recieved a commisssion they are still refered to NCO's with the "O" meaning "officer."

With all of that being said, it's just like someone said earlier---it's just a courtesy title, and it does not matter. I think what bothers people with it though is the fact that TSA dresses up their TSO's to project an image that they are law enforcement officers, and some of them really think they are, and so they act inappropriately. I have yet to see a forum thread where members are complaining about mall security officers because we know what they are, and because they work for private companies (instead of the federal government), it's hard to convince us otherwise.

Because the position description established by statute and then rule is "Transportation Security Officer." There are training and other requirements for individuals who carry firearms and have general Federal arrest authority.

If I recall, one of the reasons for changing the position description to "Officer" was so that would allow screeners more mobility to other positions because their TSA experience would now qualify under some category that would make it easier to enter real law-enforcement-type positions. Along with the police-style uniforms, it was also intended to help deceive the traveling public that they were real LEO's, to help them get more "respect". I think there was even a TSA spokesman that publicly stated something of the sort.

The well-known comedy act of Chertoff and Hawley.

Uh, we're doctors because we have doctorate degrees? I don't use my honorific title of Doctor, but I could. Lawyers don't, but they could too. All medical doctors use their title, as well as anyone in education. Other than that, it's somewhat random. If you're in a field with a lot other doctors, everyone tends to use their title just as a measuring stick. I don't, since I don't run into too many other doctorate holders on a regular basis. Plus, I just don't care.

But anyone with any doctoral degree - PhD, MD, DDS, JD, Ed. D, etc - can use the title if they want. There are dozens of different doctoral degrees out there.

The positive side of calling TSA screeners "Officers" is that it dramatically ramps up the negative publicity that TSA has to deal with when one of their TSOs screws up.

Here is one such example, an article about the arrest of Transportation Security Officer (TSO) Minnetta Walker:
The Cypress Times:
TSA OFFICIAL NAILED ON CORRUPTION CHARGES
Published 01/14/2012 - 6:29 a.m. CST

The newspaper would not have labeled Minnetta Walker a "TSA Official" if her job title had been "screener" or "clerk". The tone of the article would have been different as well; had her title been "screener", the author would not have written "Many observers of this case believe her punishment doesn't reflect the seriousness of her crime as a federal enforcement officer."

Who cares ?

Team members. ...Sales Assocites. Account Executives....

All to give an appearance of importance without PAYING ?