Customs Swat team
Oct 23, 2008 | 10:50 am
#1
Original Poster
Join Date: Jan 2003
Location: poughkeepsie NY USA
Posts: 162
Customs Swat team
Leaving MIA for EZE last week, there was a US customs swat team in the Jetway. Complete with dog, weapons and flak vests. They seemed concerned with what was leaving the US. Does anyone know what they were looking for?
Oct 23, 2008 | 11:49 am
#2
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Stuck on this planet - mainly in STR and LAX
Posts: 5,032
Seen that a few times at LAX. Usually they just stand there. Once they asked the passenger in front of me how much cash he carries.
Oct 23, 2008 | 3:00 pm
#4
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
Usually undeclared cash or cash equivalents exceeding $10,000. It's a dog and pony show meant to intimidate passengers except for those situations where they are looking for a particular individual who has been flagged by a cross checking of the passenger manifest or booked passenger lists with government blacklists of some sort or another.
Oct 23, 2008 | 4:20 pm
#5
Join Date: May 2005
Location: various cities in the USofA: NYC, BWI, IAH, ORD, CVG, NYC
Programs: Former UA 1K, National Exec. Elite
Posts: 5,487
What a fine waste of money; I assume they get extra cash for "dangerous" (i.e. in SWAT costume) assignments.
Oct 23, 2008 | 4:33 pm
#6
Used to be Sydneysider
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: CPH
Programs: AS MVP/Gold (and 75K aspirant)
Posts: 2,984
Just shut up and comply, citizen.
Oct 23, 2008 | 4:43 pm
#7
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
Oct 23, 2008 | 5:21 pm
#9
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 628
I would be really surprised if what the OP saw was actually a SWAT team. CBP does have those in a few locations, but as far as I know, they are all land border ports. What use would there be for one at an airport? Weapons, a dog, and body armor do not indicate a SWAT team. Black pajamas and automatic rifles do.
Oct 23, 2008 | 5:27 pm
#10
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
The OP doesn't mean a real SWAT team -- but the OP is talking about the DHS agenda and practice that puts around more "heavy"-looking agents to put on a show of force like that many people get when seeing a SWAT team.
This is part of a concerted program by DHS to try to "scare the bad guys". It's a dog and pony show meant to intimidate -- intimidate whom, who knows -- more than anything else nowadays.
This is part of a concerted program by DHS to try to "scare the bad guys". It's a dog and pony show meant to intimidate -- intimidate whom, who knows
-- more than anything else nowadays.
Oct 23, 2008 | 8:02 pm
#11
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: NYC
Programs: UA 1.5 Million Mile flyer, Hilton Diamond, Bonvoy Gold, Hertz 5* and PC since 1985
Posts: 5,611
I have been harassed by the TSA about cash I had, they actually counted it.
Welcome comrade
Oct 24, 2008 | 6:36 am
#12
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 628
What was "heavy-looking" about the officers in this case? The dog? It was likely a currency-sniffing dog that was being used to find cash. The weapons and body armor? CBP Officers always have those. Almost any law enforcement officer does.
Oct 24, 2008 | 9:51 am
#13
Suspended
Join Date: Jul 2001
Location: Watchlisted by the prejudiced, en route to purgatory
Programs: Just Say No to Fleecing and Blacklisting
Posts: 102,077
You aren't looking for an answer, you know.
Oct 24, 2008 | 12:38 pm
#14
Join Date: May 2005
Location: various cities in the USofA: NYC, BWI, IAH, ORD, CVG, NYC
Programs: Former UA 1K, National Exec. Elite
Posts: 5,487
The OP doesn't mean a real SWAT team -- but the OP is talking about the DHS agenda and practice that puts around more "heavy"-looking agents to put on a show of force like that many people get when seeing a SWAT team.
This is part of a concerted program by DHS to try to "scare the bad guys". It's a dog and pony show meant to intimidate -- intimidate whom, who knows -- more than anything else nowadays.
This is part of a concerted program by DHS to try to "scare the bad guys". It's a dog and pony show meant to intimidate -- intimidate whom, who knows
-- more than anything else nowadays.Either that, or the armor is an admission that DHS knows it cannot rely on itself to keep guns and knives out of airplanes, and that running into an armed individual is more likely than on the street, at immigration, etc.
Oct 24, 2008 | 4:42 pm
#15
Join Date: May 2005
Posts: 628
Eh, baloney! The fact that they were wearing body armor means nothing of the sort. They work in and out of the sterile area. You can't expect them to go change as they go back and forth. Besides, say they do seize a large wad of cash...then they'd be carrying it around unprotected. CBP Officers wear their body armor under their shirts. You can't even see it unless you really look. Like almost every cop in America, when the uniform goes on, the vest goes on.