Boggie Dog

They were setting the Porno-Scope to female when a male victim was selected for enhanced screening. Female software alarms on a mans junk.

No single TSA employee can ever be a trusted public servant from this day forward.

TSA has lost all claims of public trust!

Badenoch

Any word on happy endings?

eyecue

The firing was quite a while ago. How it just got out to the news is not known. If you are needing to be screened in private screening and you refuse to go, it brings up a whole new set of issues. One is that you would be interfering with the screening process by being uncooperative. Two you would not be allowed to continue to the gate, three you would be referred to local law enforcement.

Boggie Dog

If the passenger agrees to the screening and only demands that it be done in view of the public how could that be twisted into interfering with the screening process? Seems it would be TSA that is being uncooperative not the passenger.

What are you TSA people doing that has to be hidden from the public?

relangford

As to jurisdiction, AFAIK there aren't Federal laws which apply, so the local/state DA would be the one to file charges or not.

Are screening in private rooms required? I.e., can the victim allow for / give permission for the screening in public? If the private room is required, this opens up potential for a lot of other abuses.

Boggie Dog

They are federal employees working in an area controlled by the federal government.

I suggest that the area comprising the TSA Checkpoints is a federsl reservation and falls under federal jurisdiction.

Eyecue has indicated that enhanced screenings must be conducted in private.

This incident certainly looks like a case of TSA trying to hide yet another problem in TSA from the public. I don't know how this made it to the public but am thankful that it did.

We now have one more reason to not trust TSA.

KDS

I've twice had the experience of being "invited" to a private screening for secondary inspection. Both times, I insisted that the screening be done in public. Both times, TSA refused, In one case, the STSO took my stuff away with him to the room while I was still standing at the Xray machine; essentially stealing my items.

The TSA does not allow these searches in public; no matter what. They are ashamed of what they do. And I am ashamed of the lawmakers who allow this to continue.

Annalisa12

police charges? Is firing enough.

I am sure if the sexes were the other way around people would be screaming for criminal charges.

Dea Certe

Do not ever, ever accept a private search from the TSA unless you're up for an assault. Demand they do the search in public and make sure you have lots of witnesses. Yes, it might be a bit embarrassing for you but it beats having to live with an assault. Some of these people are sick. I will never forget what was done to me.

And yes. I did report it to every agency in writing and anyone who would listen. LAX Terminal One. I was completely cooperative and had no idea I would touched so inappropriately. and yes, I do know the difference. I travel often and had been searched before. This was not s search, it was an assault.

GUWonder

For passengers born with hermaphroditic physical attributes, the TSA seems to have set things up to make such passengers' lives more complicated for no good reason. Much the same goes for the TSA's approach toward those passengers whose sexual and/or gender attributes may not be all that obvious to the average, casual observer.

Seems rather discriminatory to make screening results a product of TSA-assigned sex/gender assignment. All this is another good reason to scrap these strip search machines at airports. Instead they should apply PreCheck LLL type screening to passengers in the main and do so without the strip search machines.

janetdoe

Hmmm, I'm pretty sure the only reason they got fired was homophobia. TSA is well aware of numerous reports of sexual assault and inappropriate sexual targeting. There is a reason this case actually resulted in consequences, as opposed to the numerous ones before.

Women can complain all they want, but the fact is, the quickest way to get a lot of powerful men outraged is when they realize that another guy could be trying to fondle their junk.

It's sad that bigotry is likely the cause, but I have high hopes that if any set of circumstances could lead to prosecution, this might be it.

Himeno

That would be sane. Something the TSA is not capable of. If they stop the fear mongering and paranoia, they'd be out of a job.

petaluma1

All law enforcement does is escort one from the airport. I know of at least two people who refused to go to a private room and were NOT charged with interfering with the screening process. As a matter of fact, one rescheduled the flight and got on another plane that very afternoon; the second person flew the next day.


We have read here of someone who refused and did receive a fine for "interfering with the screening process." http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/23344306-post1.html

She "Got the "$11,000 fine but we're letting you off with a warning letter."

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/check...e-tsa-fun.html

*One could infer that the immediate reduction in the amount of the fine was because the TSA knew it couldn't claim "interfering with the screening process" because the passenger agreed to be screened but insisted it be done in public.

petaluma1

That's just priceless. What an idiot.

Was law enforcement called and did you get charged and fined for not cooperating?

petaluma1

Made it to WaPo:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/m...le-passengers/