My "interaction" with a TSA BDO (aka Spot-nick) at EWR May 13, 2017
#16
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 28,878
I guess I really don't understand the point you are trying to make..... At this point, all I see is that you think that you somehow were smarter/better/etc. than the TSA officer and you went out of your way to annoy him/her.
I don't see any reason to make the job of TSA officers harder. Maybe there is an important point that I missed that means I haven't really understood your post. I hope so.
I don't see any reason to make the job of TSA officers harder. Maybe there is an important point that I missed that means I haven't really understood your post. I hope so.
Kinda like the lazy police officer who runs radar on every car, so the people with radar detectors always slow down.
Way better to wait 3 minutes and have a fresh group of people to ask your behavioral questions of.
If you actually want to catch people using your techniques, you can't ask people that just saw what you did.
goalie provided valuable feedback to the TSA agent. Now, it is up to the TSA agent to either up his game or get messed with in the future.
OP is, per the credential, a part of SFPD. Quite the opposite, if OP has and/or shows a SFPD ID claiming he is not one of them, that will be a major trouble, which I have learned in a hard way previously.
(For the record, all SFPD personnel are credentialed by City and County of San Francisco (CCSF).)
While I can't claim OP is showing off, somehow those TSA agents have to be taught.
In my case, I always use my airport ID to travel, which many TSA agents gladly accepted it as a valid ID. Some are, sorry to say, stupid enough to ask me a second form of ID.
(For the record, a SFPD ID or CCSF employee badge is not an acceptable ID per the TSA list.)
(For the record, all SFPD personnel are credentialed by City and County of San Francisco (CCSF).)
While I can't claim OP is showing off, somehow those TSA agents have to be taught.
In my case, I always use my airport ID to travel, which many TSA agents gladly accepted it as a valid ID. Some are, sorry to say, stupid enough to ask me a second form of ID.
(For the record, a SFPD ID or CCSF employee badge is not an acceptable ID per the TSA list.)
#17
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Happily living in Frenaros Cyprus having escaped the near-death experience called Sofia Bulgaria
Programs: Etihad Guest Gold, DL FO and 1MM, and a bunch of others at a low level
Posts: 2,052
BDO: How are you today?
Me: I'm sorry, do I know you?
BDO: No, just polite conversation.
Me: I make it a rule not to talk to strangers.
On my merry way........
Me: I'm sorry, do I know you?
BDO: No, just polite conversation.
Me: I make it a rule not to talk to strangers.
On my merry way........
#18
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Dec 2006
Location: Pacific Northwest
Programs: UA Gold 1MM, AS 75k, AA Plat, Bonvoyed Gold, Honors Dia, Hyatt Explorer, IHG Plat, ...
Posts: 16,845
The one thing I take away from this thread is that when someone tells me they are "with the XYZ-PD" I will now ask them if are actually a police officer or some auxiliary civilian non-employee trying to impress me with a somewhat misleading statement.
#19
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: DL FO
Posts: 668
I don't get the impression the OP was trying to "impress" the BDO... I think he was trying to make him go away and figured the SFPD ID would do the trick (and he was correct). Nor do I feel like he was trying to mislead the BDO (or us)... his SFPD ID likely specifies his specific role in the department. Had the BDO asked "are you a cop?" and the OP said "yes" now that would be a different story.
#20
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 28,878
I don't get the impression the OP was trying to "impress" the BDO... I think he was trying to make him go away and figured the SFPD ID would do the trick (and he was correct). Nor do I feel like he was trying to mislead the BDO (or us)... his SFPD ID likely specifies his specific role in the department. Had the BDO asked "are you a cop?" and the OP said "yes" now that would be a different story.
#21
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: NYC
Programs: DL FO
Posts: 668
Exactly what hoth300 said-not wanting to impress and/or mislead in any way. I simply wanted the BDO to go away and had he asked if i was a cop, I would not have lied and told him the truth that I was a civilian employee (and my I/D specifically states that I am not a peace officer-which the BDO should have seen if he got past reading "San Francisco Police Department" )
#22
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jun 2013
Posts: 17,451
Some folks only see the uniform and instantly go to "submit to the alpha" mode.
Some see another guy in funny clothes and treat the interaction as they do normally. Maybe neutrally, maybe with respect, maybe with humor, maybe with disdain. Depending on how the person deals with them. But not depending on their clothes. Immediate submission just isn't as imprinted on Americans as some other cultures. Believe me, the uniformed in the States hate that and at least in some sectors now use lethal force as their first response to non-compliance. Of course, that's had an effect, but even that hasn't frightened everyone into sheep.
As the OP says, this only applies with people sharing a common culture. In this case, there was an undertone of trolling going on. Its America. Trolling is the national pastime. All the way to the White House. It's what we do.
I've heard some pretty loud dustups among citizens and security in what I call "screaming cultures." But I wouldn't try that there. I wouldn't even know how to.
Some see another guy in funny clothes and treat the interaction as they do normally. Maybe neutrally, maybe with respect, maybe with humor, maybe with disdain. Depending on how the person deals with them. But not depending on their clothes. Immediate submission just isn't as imprinted on Americans as some other cultures. Believe me, the uniformed in the States hate that and at least in some sectors now use lethal force as their first response to non-compliance. Of course, that's had an effect, but even that hasn't frightened everyone into sheep.
As the OP says, this only applies with people sharing a common culture. In this case, there was an undertone of trolling going on. Its America. Trolling is the national pastime. All the way to the White House. It's what we do.
I've heard some pretty loud dustups among citizens and security in what I call "screaming cultures." But I wouldn't try that there. I wouldn't even know how to.
#23
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 28,878
Exactly what hoth300 said-not wanting to impress and/or mislead in any way. I simply wanted the BDO to go away and had he asked if i was a cop, I would not have lied and told him the truth that I was a civilian employee (and my I/D specifically states that I am not a peace officer-which the BDO should have seen if he got past reading "San Francisco Police Department" )
#25
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: where the chile is hot
Programs: AA,RR,NW,Delta ,UA,CO
Posts: 41,668
I question the usefulness of a BDO who thinks someone is suspicious enough to be identified to other TSOs and to be followed for further questioning but whose suspicions immediately go away as soon as he sees a piece of ID that might not even qualify at the TDC.
Because employees of police departments never go bad and he was well-trained enough to be certain that this was legitimate, non-forged ID.
smh
Because employees of police departments never go bad and he was well-trained enough to be certain that this was legitimate, non-forged ID.
smh
#26
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: ZOA, SFO, HKG
Programs: UA 1K 0.9MM, Marriott Gold, HHonors Gold, Hertz PC, SBux Gold, TSA Pre✓
Posts: 13,811
#27
Moderator: Smoking Lounge; FlyerTalk Evangelist
Original Poster
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: SFO
Programs: Lifetime (for now) Gold MM, HH Gold, Giving Tootsie Pops to UA employees, & a retired hockey goalie
Posts: 28,878
I question the usefulness of a BDO who thinks someone is suspicious enough to be identified to other TSOs and to be followed for further questioning but whose suspicions immediately go away as soon as he sees a piece of ID that might not even qualify at the TDC.
Because employees of police departments never go bad and he was well-trained enough to be certain that this was legitimate, non-forged ID.
smh
Because employees of police departments never go bad and he was well-trained enough to be certain that this was legitimate, non-forged ID.
smh
#28
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SEA
Programs: Delta TDK(or care)WIA, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 1,869
#30
A FlyerTalk Posting Legend
Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: where the chile is hot
Programs: AA,RR,NW,Delta ,UA,CO
Posts: 41,668
You alarmed him enough to discuss you with another TSO and to pursue you for a follow-up interrogation.
Then you were able to completely dispel his suspicions just by showing him an ID.
1) how did he have any way of knowing if the ID wasn't fake?
2) even if the ID is genuine, he alerted on your suspicious behavior, not your identity.
The program (based on this one encounter) is even stupider than I thought.