Loren Pechtel

Interesting approach.

My understanding is the real issue is electronics + organics. When they are together they can't tell if it's a bomb or not.

Boggie Dog

So for almost the last 17 years TSA carry-on bag screening has been inadequate but no actively plotting "bad guy" has taken advantage of this weakness.

I honestly believe that risk analysis is a completely foreign concept at TSA.

petaluma1

It took a full year for TSA to institute their electronics/food screening across the nation. If these two items were such a risk/problem, why did it take them that long?

Section 107

it takes that long to cycle them through FLETC....again.....and again.....

Boggie Dog

Are you suggesting that TSA is incapable of on-site training? How would they ever be able to institute an immediate alert screening issue? While the TSA Academy is located on the grounds of the FLETC TSA screeners are in no way part of those LEO trainees.

chollie

My understanding was that it is particular organics shaped certain ways that really get attention - I've heard blocks of cheese, in particular, look just like bricks of C-4, and certain thick books/stacks of paper also confuse some screeners - which is why the women who attended a sorority meeting in a large Texas city encountered so much grief at the checkpoint and UA/TSA subsequently warned convention-goers at another airport to pack their souvenir books to avoid checkpoint delays.

Note: When I have something 'organic' that I suspect might trigger an inexperienced screener, the last thing I'm going to do is pack it in a checked bag. I want them to tear my bag apart in front of me, not out of sight. There's less likelihood of the bag being sent on its way with missing or damaged items, broken or unzipped zipper, opened liquids tossed back in the bag, etc....

saizai

FYI, the official term is "On The Job" (OTJ) training. In case you feel like searching for docs about it.

Section 107

you might think that - I couldnt possibly comment...

FLETC is a reference to the training center in Georgia (although FLETC is actually nine domestic and international centers plus additional satellite training locations), not a suggestion that TSOs are LEOs.

petaluma1

Please tell us that you are not saying that every time there is a change in a screening procedure all screeners get sent to GA for retraining!

We know there is OTJ training because of all the complaints about new screeners being trained while lines back up. We also know it from videos of sreeners sexually assaulting travelers, in particular the young body who was assaulted for many minutes while a supervisor egged the screener on and most recently the 96 year old who was assaulted for 6 minutes while a supervisor hovered around.

Boggie Dog

I'm familiar with the term. In the case of an immediate issue that needs to be implemented right away I feel that OJT doesn't adequately describe the training process. Since TSA has created the "Expert" TSO designation, who specialize in training, I would think that there are a certain number of them at each airport just for such occurrences.

zitsky

Your use of the term assault suggests something inappropriate. I'm not familiar with these two cases.

petaluma1

You think touching a person's genitals without advising them that their genitals/perineum will be touched is not inappropriate? "Resistance" or "groin search" doesn't do the trick, but TSA is too cowardly to use the word genitals. In fact, they lie about it: "…that contact with Plaintiff's genitals, if any at all, was incidental and occurred through the course of a typical security pat-down." Read here: tinyurl.com/y9ttb62p

zitsky

What's the story with the 96 yo or the young boy? Same thing I suppose?

petaluma1

Prolonged gropings/assaults:

WillCAD

If TSA were capable of conducting on-site training, they wouldn't have created the TSA academy at FLETC. The whole reason that academy exists is that too many TSOs didn't know how to perform their jobs, because they had been inadequately or improperly trained on-site.