Chased by a TSO!
 

This has to be a first!

I won't name the airport, but as part of a personal research project into TSA gate searches, I was observing their antics at a boarding gate on the way to catching a flight from a nearby gate. Edited to add: Please note, this was at a boarding gate - not the terminal checkpoint. When I was done collecting data, I did what I always do, which is to take a picture identifying the location and verifying the presence of TSOs, so that I can electronically match the location and date with the data I've collected in my mobile device. Unfortunately, I forgot to disable the flash and one of the TSO's at the jetway door saw me as I turned to leave. He shouted something (couldn't hear) as I walked away rather quickly toward my gate. Since my policy is to ignore anyone who shouts to attract my attention (unless it is advantageous to me to talk with them), I continued walking, but faster. I should point out, I was walking fast because I had spent so much time collecting data that I realized my flight had probably completely boarded.

As I turned a corner, I glanced back and the same TSO was running toward me and still shouting something, but there were too many people in the way. I was almost at my gate anyway. Because of the location of the wall and podium in relation to the jet-way entrance (around the corner), and because all the other passengers had boarded, I was past the GA and into the jet-way in no time. I stood inside the jet-way door, to see if he was coming but I didn't see him walk past the gate (my only viewpoint from the doorway), so he must have either given up and turned around or gone to the gate on the side of the corridor where there was a huge crowd gathered.

SO, my questions are:

1) Who the hell is the TSA to chase me down for taking a picture?
2) the two bozos that always hang away from the gate while gate checks are being conducted were closer to me than the tubby TSO. When he shouted at me, shouldn't they have helped their poor colleague?
3) Had the TSO caught up with me, my response would have been to continue to ignore him verbally except to say something like "if you feel a crime has been committed, please call a LEO". I just want to be sure that there is no such law as "disobeying a TSO", as I would never want to break the law of this fine country, unless I was involved in civil disobedience of some sort.

Well done! ^

1. You were a flasher.
2. Flight is evidence of guilt.

:D :D

I agree , well done. I's amazing they didn't close the terminal:D

Wow, nice. This 'situation' could have deteriorated quickly if tubby barreled down the jetway or if LEOs got involved.

I'm confused.

I thought that at least one of the TSOs on this board stated that it was TSA's policy not to run after people who have entered the sterile area. Isn't that why they had a terminal dump recently-- because a passenger walked away from a checkpoint not knowing that the inspection wasn't complete?

Or is it just that TSA won't chase after someone unless they believe the person hasn't respected their "autoritay"? :rolleyes:

"Diss the tubby TSO and all bets are off!" :D

i think that you are lucky....i think that barring pictures & phones in immigration/customs is valid & probably is against the checkpoint rules....

would you be happy if the terminal was evacuated?....

good luck w/ your research, but please refrain from activity which you know is bad form at least....

i just grin and bear it when faced with idiot like rules....

I thought about that and frankly was half expecting it to happen. Two things came to mind though... First, why would they consider someone taking a picture and observing the boarding process to be a security risk worthy of a terminal dump? and second, I feel I have done my part in preventing terminal closures on two occasions (SFO and SMF respectively), so I would not have felt too badly if it had actually occurred this time.

The checkpoint is a public place, in a public building. Pictures are allowed. To my understanding, the only thing that isn't allowed to be photographed are the images on the monitors (like X-ray images, etc.) that are there.

If I'd been that person, and if the TSO had caught me, I'd have refused to allow access to the photo. I may have even denied that I was the person who took the picture. By the time they would have the whole thing sorted out, the photo would be uploaded to somewhere else, so who cares if it gets deleted from the device...

Perhaps I'll add this to my list of "must dos" near a checkpoint. It seems as though snapping a photo or two might anger TSOs even more than comments about the nonsense that happens at their stations.

Well, that is at other airports. All airports are different and besides that they were doing it all wrong:D:rolleyes:

Would TSA attempt to file murder charges if one of the TSOs keeled over from a heart attack during this chase (supposedly unauthorized)? We'd be seeing a state funeral for one of their minions who died in the ongoing battle for air safety.:rolleyes:

Discovered that TSOs really don't like being stared at either. So a stare down coupled with photography might make them go away.

LOL good job PhlyingRPh. Eh the flash probably spooked them (they were probably doing something they shouldnt be doing).

Thats why i love my DSLR and the lens i normally travel with as i can get in where there at from a distance and have the sensitivity on the senor high enough i dont need a flash (unless i want to blind someone). What airport was this at.

1. If you have to ask . . .
2. Possibilities include (a) lazy, (b) know the rules better, (c) have a good sense of humor and think physical exercise is best for those who need it the most, or (d) some or all of the above.
3. There is no such law, but some TSO's invent laws all the time (as do some LEO's, too).

What's your research project?

On what grounds? What security is compromised by taking a flash picture in a public place? And when they rescreen everyone for prohibited items, will they examine all the pictures on everyone's camera?

PhlyingRPh, good luck on your research project! Can't wait to hear your findings.

As he was chasing you, you should have shouted back some R. Lee Emery-style encouragement to TSA employee Gomer Pyle. :D

Double check that against local rules. TSA says always ok subject to local rules, but each airport can have their own rules depending on state and local laws.

What did you do there?

.... so TSA employee "dying in the line of duty" due to personal health problems is amongst the purposes of the TSA "honor guard" uniforms? With the TSA and its expensive uniform orders, nothing would surprise me coming from the TSA.

I'll reveal all very soon. All I will say at this point is that the results will be especially interesting for those of us who board earlier in the boarding process.

If you found a TSA-"prohibited" sharp object airside, would you immediately report it to the TSA and cause a terminal dump, throw it away after careful handling, or just ignore it so that possibly some paranoid nervous nelly would find it later and report it immediately to the TSA and cause a terminal dump?

Throw away or keep. Never, ever "help" TSA in any way, shape, or form.

Not long after 9-11 I found a "mysterious" white powder on my tray table when I folded it down.

It looked suspiciously like "Sweet N Low" or the even more dangerous "Equal." Brushed it into the floor.

Go ahead, tell me how irresponsible this was.

+1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +1 ^

I notice a conspicuous absence of comments from our TSO brethren...

A person can take as many pix as they want at both the gate or the checkpoint. The TSA can't do squat about it. I would have turned and took a pic of him chasing after you. hahahaha

Can't wait for the day they add "sprinting" to the Smurf Job Qualifications Standards. :D

"One Stripe TSOs must be able to make it from the checkpoint to Cinnabun to the break room and back to the checkpoint in 30 minutes or less."

How did I prevent a terminal dump? In one case I spoke up, in another, I kept my mouth (mostly) closed. Here they are...

SFO, about three years ago - I was pulled aside for a full-on secondary, and while waiting was told by a TSO that did not know I had been detained that I could leave. I could have picked up my bags and tiptoed off to the gate but decided that since there were liquid containers involved, I should probably wait.

SMF, about six months ago. I appear at the checkpoint podium with BP and DL in hand - no TSO there. A TSO standing behind the conveyor barks at me to come over and put my stuff on the belt. As I'm putting my stuff in the tubs I ask him who is going to check my ID. He says to show it to the agent as I go through the metal detector. I notice that the two people ahead of me walk through without showing ID to that TSO. I tried to show her my DL and BP but she just rolled her eyes, like I don't know what I'm doing and motioned me toward the conveyor. I also notice that the five or six individuals behind me did not not show any ID at the metal detector and there was still no document checker at the podium. I was going to point this out to a supervisor, but then thought about the impending terminal dump if they couldn't find the two men who were in front of me but who had now left for the gate. I began chatting to a rather hot TSO at SMF who suddenly popped up behind the conveyor and asked if she could check my bag (protein shake again). As I mentioned, she was rather hot, and I didn't really want to come off as the weanie that I undoubtedly am, so decided not to discuss the lack of an ID check. Instead, I waited for all the other passengers to leave the checkpoint and then approached the supervisor and told him that somehow I got through without an ID check and that he should look into it. I may or may not have responded in the negative when he may or may not have asked if any one else got through without an ID check (I have a very bad memory and forget these things sometimes). Anyway, that is how I prevented a terminal dump.

They are probably too busy catching terwists, enforcing the skewrity theater, taking Play-Do from kids, and snatching medical liquids from Grandma..

I wasn't afraid of confrontation. The problem was a) I was late for my flight and didn't want to lose the upgrade, and b) My policy is that I stop for no uniformed individuals in the US (ask the poor red coats at the checkpoint in LGA) except LEOs.

Is the current standard waddling?:)

and here i thought we'd get to add this to the tsa's weekly self promotion of successful big catches body count....

1-terminal dump caused by flyertalker ;)

and another well done from me as well ^^

correct as photography is permitted so long as it does not interfere with the dog and pony show screening process (at least according to blogger bob anyway ;)) and if questioned by a tso, politely tell them to go away as only a leo can ask to see your photographs

But 3/4 of the time, he doesn't have a clue as to what is really happening at airport checkpoints or at the gates.

true-but can we give the the 1/4 benefit of the doubt in this case as even a broken watch is right 2x a day ;)

Interesting anecdote

Why not? If you did, and the airport happens to be one of the 50 I queried about public photography last year, then we'd have some hard information about actual policy at that airport.

What makes you think that? It's a public place where thousands of people can observe and remember what happened, so why would anyone try to bar them from documenting what they saw, either with pencil and paper or with a camera? [EDIT: Answering my own question: One reason to bar such documentation is that if conflicts involving TSA misconduct arise, photographs make it much harder for TSA staff to convince others of their side of the story when their side doesn't match with reality. So other than CYA, why would TSA bar photography of public employees, public property, public space, and the public, in public places where public employees interact with the public, when many, many, people can and do see that interaction?]

That's unclear. Bob Burns told us on the TSA blog that photography of the monitors was discouraged, not prohibited, and many of the TSA people who responded to my requests for additional information confirmed this. Bob later said that such photography is prohibited, but despite numerous requests for him to do so, never backed that assertion with any facts.

When images are deleted from a digital camera's memory card (and when files of any sort are deleted from the file systems of most computers, including digital cameras), the information is typically still on the card until it is overwritten by new images stored there. The camera/computer simply updates an index so that the place where the image/file was stored is available for reuse.

So even when images are "deleted", until new images overwrite them, you can usually retrieve them using the right software.

OK. Rhymes with Gourd

no restrictions on photography from publicly-accessible areas of ORD
 

On April 1, 2009, Barbara Hornbach, TSA Customer Service Quality Improvement Manager at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, informed me via e-mail that TSA at Chicago O'Hare is not aware of any TSA policies, local laws, state statutes, or local ordinances prohibiting photography or video recording of publicly-accessible areas of the airport.

OP, if you think about it maybe he was trying to return something you left behind? You would be amazed at the amount of stuff that gets left at the checkpoints. And I don’t work at that large a place. :D

What gets me, totally boggles my mind, is the person that leaves one (1) shoe behind. One shoe! How can you walk off and leave a single shoe in a bin? Or on the rollers for that matter? And sometimes it’s a woman’s HIGH HEEL SHOE!!! “[P.A. system]Would the young lady that is bouncing up and down please return to the checkpoint and reclaim your shoe.” :D

"Hey, guy! Hey! The memory card fell out of your camera!" :rolleyes:

Looks like there is a new, improved, extra optimistic TSA Kool-Aid formula...:rolleyes:

I hope the other shoe was planted somewhere, very very deep....:p

Bravo! You da man! :)

No one. Photography of gates is not prohibited.

Perhaps they knew what the first TSO forgot, i.e. that they are not LEOs and have no power to stop or detain anyone.

Absolutely no law whatsoever. TSOs are not LEOs. The lack the power to arrest or detain. They also lack the power to demand an answer to a question. I like your proposed response. I would phrase is only slightly differently: "If you think there's a problem, please call a LEO."

I've had TSOs do this (return an item I left at the checkpoint). They did not, however, shout but, rather, said, "Excuse me, sir?" I've always thanked them sincerely for their courtesy in returning my forgotten item.

I'm pretty sure the OP could tell the difference between a helpful TSO and one bent on exceeding his authority. Apparently, two TSO colleagues could tell the difference as well.

The OP was at a boarding gate, not in immigration or customs.

It wouldn't have been his fault, but TSA's if that happened.

First, it isn't bad form. Second, not only is there no reason for him to refrain from his research, but he should continue it, as it is in the best and highest traditions of constitutional liberty. Remember that part about the right, "to petition the government for the redress of grievances"?

Feel free, if you want to see the Constitution disintegrate into meaningless dust. Just don't expect everyone to share your apathy.

Non-commercial photography is protected under the First Amendment. There are no lawful local rules against photography in public places.

As PhlyingRPh bolded in his OP, this did not occur at a screening checkpoint; it was a TSO at the jetway door that wasn't for PhlyingRPh's flight. What are the chances that a TSO doing a gate search for another flight would notice that PhlyingRPh left something behind as he was walking toward his flight? Slim and none IMHO. Why do you make almost completely implausible excuses?