WillCAD

Oh, HECK no!

They need to behave like what they ARE, not what they WANT to be or what they want US to believe they are or what they want us to treat them as.

THEY ARE NOT COPS. They do not deserve to be treated like cops, they have no police powers or authority, and they must never be armed or given any power of detention, arrest, or criminal investigation. They must never be treated like cops, or ever expected to behave like cops. Ever.

They're baggage screeners. They're gropers and ID readers. They're luggage sniffers. Nothing more.

I don't want them to "step up". I want them to DRESS DOWN. I want the Mall Ninja outfits and Quickdraw McGraw badges taken away; I want them outfitted in polos and khakis with numbered, ranked, clear nametags and airport ID credentials displayed PROMINENTLY - no ID flipping, no hiding their identities from those for whom they work, and no pretending - or deusionally thinking themselves - to be cops, cop-like, or even rent-a-cops.

FlyingHoustonian

A radio interview I heard a couple of days ago noted she was a homeless person wandering the airport and tried to just walk through the checkpoint???

tinman435

I actually agree with you. I wold love for the government to stop trying to present them as 'real' LEOs.

However, as long as they are presented as... I will complain that they are not living up to that standard. (I know they never will be able to live up to that standard.)

bostonbreakdown

the reason TSA agents did nothing to help their fellow agent was because they would have been fired. TSA agents are told not help anybody if someone is being assaulted, do not even defend yourself if being attacked. TSA management will not hesitate to fire an individual if they get into a confrontation even if it is to defend a coworker, a passenger or themselves.

goalie

Can any of our resident TSO's confirm or deny this?

And if it was me, I'd risk getting fired as no coworker of mine is going to get assaulted without me coming to their defense

coachrowsey

goalie a BIG +1 here & I would also like to know.

Fredd

If true it's unconscionable. And if that's the case, it's one more reason they don't need any stinkin' badges.

redtigeriii

If true, that's pretty pathetic. So the management says its ok for TSA to assault someone during a patdown or during the security screening with no consequences what-so-ever, yet they'd be fired if they defended themselves or a co-worker from an attack by an individual outside of the checkpoint?

SeriouslyLost

I could see it being policy: TSA does plenty of idiotic things.

At the same time, if they ever did fire someone for defending themselves, TSA would find themselves on the losing side of a wrongful dismissal suit in less than a minute: you cannot contract out of the right to defend yourself.

The rest of it? Highly debatable, but TSA would not enjoy trying to defend such a policy in an employment court.

gsoltso

+1^

gsoltso

I have not been told those specific words. I have actually been told essentially the same thing that I have been told at any other work location "defend yourself enough to disengage from the situation" and contact LEO. In the case of a coworker being assaulted, I would be inclined to help them out, as I have not received instructions not to help them disengage from the situation. This does not mean jump in and body slam someone, it means to help the coworker disengage. Taking people into custody is not what we are supposed to do, that is a LEO function, tossing and handcuffing someone is not what we are supposed to do either.

The caveat would be if you were in a static position that you can't leave due to security concerns - which would effectively render a bunch of TSOs unable to assist in many situations. As mentioned by JK Huggins above, it could simply be a distraction to open up other vulnerablities or facilitate an actual breach.

petaluma1

Seems to me that some time ago, we learned that screeners are not to come to the aid of an ill passenger, especially if it meant leaving their assigned post.

bostonbreakdown

maybe it has to do with individual airports, Boston I am told that if a TSO is assaulted, management will tell them pretty much just stand down, or they would be open for disciplinary actions.

goalie

Thanks for clarifying ^ as I really can't conceive of your employer doing/saying something that stupid (other things yes, but I digress ).

Now as coming to the aid of a coworker who is being assaulted (say, as in the video) and "disengaging", it puts you in a delicate situation as the normal reaction would be to separate the parties and then keep the "attacking" party separated from the "victim" party-but how does one do that? Bear hug? Full/half nelson? Stand in front of them? Takedown (body slam or otherwise)? The way I see it is that if the attacking party ceases then stand in front of them until a LEO arrives but if they "persist" and it becomes "against you" and then you have every right to defend yourself.

jkhuggins

The problem, of course, becomes the interpretation of "defend yourself". Trayvon Martin was shot and killed in "self-defense"; the threat Martin posed to George Zimmerman requiring that sort of "defense" is a matter of considerable debate.

I speculate that what TSA is trying to get across --- like many other employers --- is that an employee under attack should use the minimal force needed to protect themselves. There's a line somewhere between "let them beat you to a bloody pulp while you curl up like a punching bag" and "chase them down through the airport and bash their heads into the floor".

As others have noted, TSOs aren't LEOs, and as such aren't formally trained in physical defensive tactics. TSOs shouldn't be encouraged to act beyond those skills.

And that's hardly unique to TSA. I see reports on The Consumerist all the time of folks working in retail jobs who get fired for trying to chase down shoplifters or come to the aid of customers being assaulted in their own parking lot. Usually, corporate policy cited in those situations is "call the cops and let them handle it."