http://www.whec.com/news/stories/S3102416.shtml?cat=566

An update . Try not to puke reading what the blue shirts say.

So, basically we have a federal agency ordering untrained, non-vetted, private-company valet parking attendants to search customers' private vehicles - including, according to the story, the engine compartment and trunk - without warrant, probable cause, or articulable suspicion of any kind.

I cannot imagine what flagrant, egregious violation of the Bill of Rights this agency of evil will come up with next.

John Pistole (TSA Director) should be arrested and prosecuted for this, along with the Federal Security Director at ROC and any of the ROC airport administrators who went along with this blatantly illegal hairbrained scheme.

What next? Will Boy Scout troops be bussed in to the airport to conduct searches and interrogations as part of their Public Service high school graduation requirements? Will the waitstaff at airport restaurants be ordered to photocopy your ID and BP before serving you? Will you be required to have your photo taken and your ID and BP copied before making a cash transaction anywhere within 5 miles of an airport? Will you be required to show your ID and BP to the janitors to get into the terminal bathrooms?

Will the FBI now be able, under this legal precedent, to order the utility meter reader, or your apartment maintenance staff, to conduct searches of your home while you're away?

I think I need a tinfoil hat. This story is making my head explode with all sorts of horrifying future possibilities!

Welcome to the club.

This is all met with a collective shrug. Maybe the marketing will include a carwash and vacuum for a 10% discount if the search doesn't turn up a b-o-m-b.

No way in hell would I ever agree to let a valet search my car. They have less than stellar records to begin with.

In the mid 60s Mrs. Fredd, a young lass, visited a college roommate who was in turn visiting her divided family in Budapest (a long and sad story like so many of that era). She stayed with them but it was judicious to book a hotel room. She returned one evening and realized her hotel room had been searched.

The only difference was... they didn't leave one of those cute cards.

A valet presumably does not receive the hours of training that TSA staff do, yet a valet is apparently equally qualified to identify explosives and various indicators of terroristic intent. Do the valets also drive the cars about the city, using portable backscatter scanners to irradiate everyone they see?

I can't believe Pistole keeps escalating TSA's Fourth Amendment violations.

Sounds like the FSD figured the valets were already "searching" for valuables that might have been accidentally left in vehicles, they might as well look for bombs, too!

TLH has it, and I won't use it because (a) it costs more than long-term, and (b) I don't want a freshly-minted McDonald's reject driving my car. The only times I ever use valet parking are at two local restaurants where it's the only choice and at the Port Canaveral cruise terminal, where it's the only choice.

My sister once used hotel valet parking to go to a wedding reception. Turns out the valets were taking the cars off-site, parking them illegally (on sidewalks, etc.), and when they received parking tickets, they threw the tickets away. Sure enough, my sister received an overdue parking ticket warning from the city, and she promptly sent the hotel a copy of it, telling them the ticket was their responsibility. Obviously, the company handling the valet parking didn't care--by the time the guests got the overdue warnings, the company would have already been paid for their "services", leaving the hotel and guest to duke it out.

I wonder how many gaping holes we can come up with for this one?

Let's try -

1. The valets are untrained so wouldn't know what to look for

2. The rationale for searching is because they're parked, but twerrists could still simply drive up and detonate a bomb. (Unless suicide bombers aren't willing to go to ROC, which is distinctly possible now that I think about it - I know I wouldn't go near the place)

3. IIRC, the law says that an administrative search has to be done in a manner consistent with a specific stated purpose: "car bombers" means that every vehicle entering or approaching the airport terminal must be searched.

4. No mention of searches of delivery vehicles which also park near the terminals for extended periods.

5. Is there an employee car park near the terminal, because that would need searching every day too.

6. What do they do if a vehicle is sealed or parts of it are sealed and they can't gain access? Do they break the locks on truck storage containers?

7. How does their search deal with all those bombs hidden in the chassis or out of sight?

8. About that pesky Constitution and the search limits...

Next?

If a valet found a bomb, what's going to happen next? Is a worker from the food court going to be sent to disarm the bomb? This seems like a great way for the TSA to search vehicles without having to worry about the pesky Constitution.

ROFLMAO......actually a few years ago just this kind of thing happened a airport valet here . Accident racing & I think both cars totaled.

How likely is it that the valet would not search the car, and say they did?

What happens when the valet finds something they don't recognize? Like, say, they see a CNG tank for the first time on a CNG powered vehicle? Does the TSA pay for the needless bomb squad callout?

Blogger Bob has chimed in and of course denied any wrongdoing on the TSA's part:

http://blog.tsa.gov/2013/07/false-re...-searches.html

Bob said:
Which we all knew from the original article, however the original article said:

Bob said the TSA doesn't mandate these searches, but the TSA director at the airport says they do and the valet workers do too. Which is it?