TravelingPeanut

I saw a few stories about this earlier today, but when I looked around TS/S, I didn't see it mentioned.

A male traveler and father of 2 who is often selected for additional security checks (he says) because of his name, took a video of TSA agents patting down his 2 children: a 2 year old boy and a 6 year old girl. They were subject to this additional check because they were traveling with him.

http://www.travelerstoday.com/articl...dren-video.htm

If I was 6, I don't think I'd fully understand what was going on.

GUWonder

Zahir Khan getting flagged for haraSSSSment screening and his toddler and other young child get groped by the TSA in a way that may be fancied by child molesters? Not surprised by these ridiculous TSA actions, as I've seen this stuff way too often even as it's declined big time in recent years.

If the father were more savvy, he should travel by himself (no stroller/car seat at the checkpoint) with both kids; or have his adult female partner way out of sight when clearing with his kids; or let his adult female partner take the kids through security at a separate time/checkpoint if possible. If the kids decide to make a scene, the father should treat the kids just as well or better for doing so at the screening checkpoint.

BubbaLoop

Noticing the small but all-important details. The fact that it is a woman TSO does not make it any "better" at all. Note how the woman checks around her breasts, as if she had any (sort of in a "I was trained this way so I will do it this way even if it makes no sense" way). Note how the woman rubs her hand all over, multiple times, the girls leggings (creepy and pointless). She also sticks her hands inside the girl´s collar (which has no bulk at all), all while attempting to give her a "nice woman" smile: even more creepy. Thankfully she did not stick her hands inside the girl´s pants like they always do with me.

In any other context, this would undoubtedly be seen as sexual assault. Imagine this is a school, or a church or a children´s camp. Imagine a person of authority saying "I need to check you to make us safe", and doing exactly what she did. It is simply unacceptable.

thebat

I just wish the kids would have started screaming and pitching fits. Really put on a show. Attract a lot of attention to this wretched practice of the TSA.

GUWonder

Indeed.

It would be intersting if the kids started running around the airport and grabbing their favorite backpack or teddy bear and played their game of "catch me if you can".

I know a toddler whose instinctive reaction to any stranger grabbing her little backpack without permission is to howl like crazy or bite at first opportunity. The TSA wants to get rid of her and her adult companion(s) as soon as possible. [She knows it works for her protective German shepherds, so she probably thinks its works for her too. I was warned, but didn't pay it any mind. And even with ice cream, let's just say that some will bite the hand that feeds. ]

Will the TSA shut down the airport if a toddler or an older pre-schooler decides to blitz (or blitz back and forth thru) the screening checkpoint and play hide-and-seek airside? This could be really interesting to observe at a major US airport.

WillCAD

What a load of malarkey.

This sort of harassment is exactly what led TSA to modify its procedures in 2011, allowing the elderly and the very young to keep shoes on, restricting the use of pat-downs on small children, etc. I notice that, even with these severely compromised security procedures, no planes have yet fallen out of the sky.

Yet here they are, doing it again. Perhaps the family has some foreign sounding name that screams "terr'ist!" to the uneducated buffoons who man the c/p, but that's no excuse for patting down minor children in this fashion. It's a horrific personal violation to have an adult rubbing your whole body outside of a medical exam by a licensed, vetted, medical professional.

The word "creepy" is powerful, but has different meanings for different people. I prefer to stay away from it.

What I saw in this video were a couple of run-of-the-mill TSOs who did not appear to be enjoying the pat-downs, they were simply treating them as business as usual. I saw no indication of pedophilia, only of stupidity and robotic obedience to orders and to insane procedures that have no value except as mass conditioning devices.

I didn't find the TSOs' actions "creepy" per se, at least not in the way you would if you saw someone actually deriving some perverse pleasure from fondling children. Rather, I found them violative and outrageous, just as I do when they're performed on adults.

I also found them vaguely pathetic, because it's obvious to me that the TSOs have put aside their personal distaste for fondling other peoples' children by assuring themselves that they're acting in a professional manner, like medical professionals. They're obviously attempting to reassure the children and avoid scaring them. The female TSO, especially, explained the whole pat-down to the little girl before she started.

None of this makes it any less wrong. I just don't think we need to immediately jump into hyperbole whenever we see something like this. Calm, rational, logical objections should be raised, because the more emotional and rabid our objections are, the more easily they can be dismissed as ignorant, hysterical paranoia.

petaluma1

What got me was that the kids allegedly touched the father after the screening process began which prompted the groping. Mom must have had her grope before the little boy because she is being allowed to hold his hand.

Hopefully, the parents had a bit of a talk with the children afterwards to try to explain to them why they had to be subjected to what is otherwise inappropriate touching. A young child could easily believe that anyone in uniform is allowed to touch the in that manner.

However, it is a "creepy" procedure when you realize that this is exactly the same way that many pedophiles "groom" their victims. It's almost as if the TSA took their procedures for kid groping from the playbook of pedophilia.

~~

FYI, this took place at the airport in Albany, NY.

ldsant

Beyond disgusting doesn't begin to cover how I feel about this. KIRO news in Seattle is doing a follow-up about this.

N830MH

Gosh! Not again! You can't be touching with the little kids. No one! Leave the children alone! You don't change the behavior. You could be fired. You won't be working at airport anymore.

Good riddance to TSA!!!

MrsGraupel

At the beginning of the video, it looks like they had put a TSA propaganda badge on the little guy. Someone had the good taste to remove it by the end! Sickening.

N830MH

I agree with you. It's terrible and this is sickening. Nobody who touching with the kids. No one! Leave the children alone!

maniac78

The TSA are basically terrorizing the public at this point. Where are the parents here putting up with this? No way would I let this happen. Why are so many people just meekly putting up with this?

coachrowsey

This these molesters need to be in jail.

relangford

Because they want to get on an airplane. Objecting leads to even more harassment and delay, being denied access to the "secure area", or getting on the "no-fly list".

What would - or could - you do? TSA agents determine who gets pass them. The only alternative is not to fly or to take rail or to take a cruise. Once you are at the point of the pat-down, ANYTHING you do can get you into more trouble.

N830MH

Right! They are going to jail. They will be punish for what they did to these children. I'm fed up with TSA! They won't listening. They're breaking the laws. They will never work at airport again.