And you are mistaken. I've already explained why your reliance on TSA's propaganda is misplaced.

Were you there to determine whether the child was carrying weapons, explosives or incendiaries? If not, you exceeded your legal authority. By the way, unauthorized separation and detention of a child from its parents without parent consent constitutes kidnapping when asportation (moving the child) takes place. Don't blame me -- it's only the law.

I see TSOs second-guessing all the time. Regardless, I'll say it one more time:

EVEN IF THE TSO HAS A GOOD FAITH BELIEF THAT A CHILD IS BEING KIDNAPPED OR ABUSED, he lacks ANY legal authority to do anything about it.

By intervening, the TSO assumes the same risks as any citizen, i.e. he'd better be right or he will incur liability.

Separating a child from her guardian and questioning her without a responsible adult present, and without probable cause - tovarich, it's merely SOP with the Федеральная служба безопасности!

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Let's hope Little Debbie gives the screeners a reason to cry next time they pull a stunt like this....she's 11, so the kick doesn't need to go that high.

Please assist me by providing a reference that states the limitations on the role of the TSA representatives - I not only have not been able to find such references but believe the references I have documented in fact do not indicate such limitations. Your simply repeating yourself in my estimation adds little validity to your statement(s).

TSO's may second guess often, my comment if you reread it, was that I cannot imagine a TSA representative subjecting THEMSELVES to the second guessing that would result for stopping and question a child over a few tears. A citizen or TSA agent has at least a moral responsibility to report a suspected act of kidnapping or abuse. It's done with regularity. See also below

http://www.americanhumane.org/about-...e-neglect.html

As previously referenced, there are in fact laws protecting those who intervene in good faith where abuse or kidnapping is suspected, you might have missed this so I'll repeat it below.

http://www.nmsa.org/Publications/Mid...6/Default.aspx

And when a child shows the signs of abuse, they were historically ignored every day. Fortunately, it is no longer the case. Whereas it is true "The TSA wasn't needed before to save the children and the TSA is still not needed to save the children today." it does not mean that when faced with what appears to be child abuse that is wrong to take action - whether you are a TSA representative, a concierge at a hotel, a taxi driver, a bus driver or yes, even a "... drug-abusing panhandler". As quoted below, the law and others support this viewpoint.

When one witnesses the possible signs of child abuse, one has a least a moral responsibility to act. This is not just my opinion and a TSA representative is a part of the community just as any other citizen

http://www.americanhumane.org/about-...e-neglect.html

And let's hope Little Debbie does not find herself and her parents in juvenile hall.

You just don't get it, do you?

Personally, I do not find TSA Press Releases or any references relying on information from Wikipedia to be authoritative and legally-binding on my actions.

Absent proof that TSA has been granted the statutory or regulatory authority to pull the actions that were expressed in the OP, I operate under a limited government attitude. Prove to me that they have the authority to act as they did, by doing the research with direct links to the relevant sections of the USC or CFR and I will accept it. Absent that information, TSA is limited to the search for WEI, as has been shown in many links provided in this thread and others (see Fofana for the most recent example of a court slapping TSA for overstepping their statutory authority).

As for your assertion about child abuse/neglect and the immunity clauses, TSA is probably covered by that. However, those clauses all rely on the person reporting the claim to be reporting it to a valid LE entity, not taking it upon themselves to insert themselves into the mix and perform the investigative work. IANAL (unlike PTravel and others), but, IMO, a TSO acting like the ones in the OP would not be covered by those clauses. A TSO reporting a claim to a LEO for review by LE would be covered under those clauses.

Oh, please. "Girl crying in airport" is not a sign of child abuse.

Screeners have been told not to do CPR on someone who might be having a heart attack; do you think TSA is going to be happy with a screener who steps away from his job because he thinks a child might be being kidnapped or abused?

Isn't it rather obvious that the travellers in the original post would have had to have been detained until an LEO could arrive? A sensitive child might then be very intimidated waiting for the LEO and then further intimidated when confronted by the "real" policeman, might they not?

(At security Friday night and Saturday morning in Terminal B at IAH, I do not recall seeing an LEO in the screening area or at the terminal.)

"Oh, please." how do you know a few tears, which it appears you are implying, was the only reason for the concern? To paraphrase a line from Shakespeare, "methinks the TSA haters doth protest too much."

Further supporting my earlier comments that I find it difficult to conceive of a TSA representative subjecting THEMSELVES to the second guessing that would occur by questioning child abuse of a few tears. I suspect that the TSA representative in question may have just as likely been supported by their colleagues as questioned by them.

And how do you know that it wasn't?

An 11yr old is not going to jail for defending herself against attack - your assertion here is really a little offbeat. If I had a child, I certainly would have taught them to use violence to disable an attacker and get away - parents send their children to this training all the time. As a child, I was sent to karate school (against my will) and taught how to protect myself from an adult or even other child trying to grab and harm me - it was a necessity while living in the big city and walking to/from school, being out and about alone, taking transit, etc. If another adult tried to grab me or pull me away from my parents or restrain me in some way, you bet the toe end of my shoe would have been firmly planted in their peanut orchard before I took off running.

I really can't believe you've put so much effort into defending the TSA over this. It's NONE of their business. None. Zero. Zilch. None of mine. None of yours.

If the child is screaming for help and trying to get away from someone, that's one thing - but standing there and crying? You've never seen a child stand and cry before? Acquire one of your own and give it a try - you'll find this behavior is somewhat universal. Highly annoying, but universal nonetheless.

The biggest problem is for me, that she wasn't making a scene by refusing to go nor was she throwing a temper tantrum. She was simply crying.

If I'm the TSO who believes something is amiss, then I notify my supervisor or a LEO. Let them handle it. Maybe the police simply trail my mother and sister and see if there is reason to be alarmed. Perhaps they, as someone else mentioned, make a small talk comment about her being sad. That's what police officers are trained for.

But when one TSO decides to make a scene and then calls a few of their colleagues over to only heighten the embarrassment, I think was totally unnecessary.

I called my Mom to have her clarify what happened and she said that the TSO's were indignant and she felt like she'd done something wrong because they pulled her aside and "made a scene".

I don't - do you? Since I must assume you have no more first hand knowledge than I do - why do you and others feel it so easy to denigrate the performance of the TSA representative?

I have stated it is difficult to conceive of the TSA representative subjecting themself to the second guessing of questioning the child over a few tears and as such I conclude their gesture whether justified or not to have at least been in good faith.

Can you tell me you honestly believe the TSA representative was acting like a "jackboot" as one person put it or on a power trip as others have suggested by questioning an 11 year old? I can't and I have seen some TSA agents I thought were on nothing more than a power trip as well as been helped by a considerate representative.

Yes. The TSA has NO business "questioning" an 11 year old under any circumstances, especially away from a parent - but they should not be talking to them at all.

Sure, I believe it's possible. I've read plenty of examples here of TSA representatives exceeding their authority, trying to score the "big find". Read about the Fofana case. Read about the Bierfieldt case.