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In the LAX RCC. A few minutes ago I was just getting ready to take my stuff off the belt after screening at the elite security line a TSA shouted code braavo and bounded up the stairs to Terminal 7. We were told to step away from our stuff and not move. Pretty enervating. About 5 min later we got the all clear. First time for me. Don't need it again.

Looks like one of their stupid tests to me:rolleyes:

I' sure our resident clerk in Den will be along soon

I would have just grabbed my stuff and moved on..

You base that assumption on what?
There are no clerks in in TSA.

Uh, yes there are. 60000 of them.

From a blog a few years back

I had something more “reasonable” happen. At the actual screening line, where I had just gathered my shoes, an agent yelled “Code Bravo” and all the TSA workers held up their blue gloves. The one nearest to me told me to stay put. It lasted for maybe 5 minutes, and then they yelled “Code Bravo clear” and said congratulated us for being part of an exercise.

It was pretty surreal and I was wondering what they’d come up with next. Now I know.

I can only guess that TSA is training us to act like sheep. Their justification could be that it would be useful in one of those cases where someone bolts through the gate and they have to re-screen the entire terminal.

But they’re really going too far now if they’re demanding that people play Simon Says without explanation or reasonable accomodation.



Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/200...#ixzz13xitxdgw

From the same article:

Exactly: how do you know that the TSA people ordering you to stop are actual law enforcement officers? I am inclined to ignore TSA "officers" telling me to stop where I am, but would obey a lawful request by an actual law enforcement officer.

eyecue:
I know a lot more than you think I know but it's ssi:D

60,000 to many CLERKS

this happens regularly in ATL.

I remember the first time this happened when I was traveling with a co-worker...he was amazed at the fact the best defense TSA had was screaming "code bravo, everybody freeze, don't move"

mean while the terrorist would have just detonated his bomb and killed the 300+ people at the check point

Wirelessly posted (Motorola DynaTAC: BlackBerry9630/5.0.0.624 Profile/MIDP-2.1 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/104)

The GF claims I have selective hearing. This would be a good chance to prove her right :D

Correct indeed.

So, what IS code bravo? Any insight?

I am hearing impaired, from time to time severely. What do they do to someone whose has cleared, is picking up their stuff and truly does hear their stupid game being played. Would they have tackled me from behind? Get an LEO to arrest me? It is hard enough to keep my sanity without this junk.

Sad, but true.. Eyecue, what can you do to stop a pax that will not ditz around the check point, while you call a code blue? Surely you can't call a LEO on somebody.. You can't detain us, so I don't see why pax just don't move along..

What was that??? ;)

I have had a bit of time to think about this. If there really is a code bravo, and it really means something, tell the passengers. It is only fair.

This should be posted near the difficult to find opt out signs for convenience.

In my fantasies I bring a boom-box with playback capability through security. At the opportune moment, I press a button and my boom box screams, "Code Bravo! Code Bravo! Everybody Freeze!" In the resulting confusion I steal all their Krispy Kremes.

Yes, I've run into this at ATL as well. I agree with you on the "everybody freeze" part - there was nothing keeping me from moving except for a barking TSA agent. After a few minutes, we got the all clear, but not before a supervisor "addressed the crowd." As we all know, the TSA is great at yelling, but this guy spoke so quietly that I couldn't hear him. I'm really not sure what the point of the exercise was, except possibly to waste a few minutes of my life.

If there was a group of you, you could all start screaming "bravo, bravo!!!" and clapping. See what kind of reaction that gets from the TSA

I had this happen at LAX T4 in 2008 while connecting back through to QF107. Had finally cleared through the line and the checkpoint and was sitting on the ground putting my shoes back on.
They yelled 'everybody freeze'. I just kept doing what I was doing.
About two minutes later, just as I'd finshed fixing my shoes, they called the all clear and the thanks for taking part in a test bit.

Training line starts behind them.

And I'll have no part of it this 'us' nonsense, either.

Which is why I'll have no part in their little drama and go about my business.

I'm ... erm ... attention impaired, severely so when under stress. I am either off in my own little world or so hyperfocused on the task at hand that I frequently blow right by people talking directly at me.

Yeah. I'm sorta like that, too. You have to be if you can't hear. You focus on the immediate task right in front of your eyes. It becomes your only world. It has its advantages though. :p

I think it would be great if people started panicking and running around all over the checkpoint, diving on the floor, etc.

Oh noes!!!!! We're all gonna die! Run!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, that would be funny. For a moment. :p

wouldnt a bloody huge stop sign be a bit more useful, non english speakers my have difficulty with verbal commands.

How about not doing the stupid stuff at all? The non-English speaking, and non-English hearing I might add, among us will appreciate it even more.

It is dumb.

It is ridiculous.

It may even be an effort at long-term social conditioning. Like saying if you do not want to get rubbed just let us take the naked picture. No big deal.

Okay, tinfoil hat is back off now.

I'm wondering why our resident clerks have made no comments on this:rolleyes:

Previous FT threads about it

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/air-c...bravo-sea.html

From the top ten codes you are not supposed to know over at listverse.com

Code Bravo is the code phrase for a general security alert at airports. Unlike most of the codes on this list, the code is meant to cause alarm – but not through knowing what it means: when this alert is raised, all of the security agents will begin to yell “Code Bravo” in order to frighten the passengers – this is supposed to make it easier for the agents to locate the source of the problem without interference from the general public. For those of you who travel on ships from time to time, you may like to know that Code Bravo means “fire” and it is the most serious alert on a ship – if it burns, you either get off or burn with it. Ships also often use sound signals, such as 7 short and 1 long, meaning “man the lifeboats”.

A video of Billy Crystal from TMZ going through Security when they bark out a Code Bravo

http://www.tmz.com/2008/07/11/billy-...eld-up-at-lax/

One guy who worked for the TSA has this on his resume

Authored DFW Airport's emergency security response procedures; Code Bravo is the screening checkpoint breach containment procedure and Code Tango is the Improvised Explosive Device (IED) escalation procedure. The successful documentation and implementation reflects detailed security knowledge that was acquired working as a lead, supervisor and security manager.

If you watch the linked video, you can see one of the screeners come to the edge of the wall of the screening area and tell someone to hold still. I'd say this is more proof of them moving way beyond the scope of their authority and moving towards that of a LEO. She actually reminded me more of a school crossing guard talking to a parent coming to pick up their child. Maybe we should buy them some of those yellow plastic sashes to go with the blue uniform.

Somebody should have a conversation at a checkpoint including something like, "Did you see Dancing with the Stars Last night? I got tired of nothing but tango, tango, tango!"

The video is most interesting and instructive:

1. Grandma screener giving the "halt!" or 1930s German salute sign in the general direction of the terminal.

2. The moat dragon screener blocking the metal detector with his back to the crowd of passengers.

3. The herd of screeners who came double-timing from somewhere inside the terminal to the checkpoint.

Has anybody else experiencing a "Bravo" exercise witnessed a similar type of behavior?

Hmm, wouldn't a terrorist learn from watching this that you could subvert the Code Bravo exercise by simply yelling "Bravo Clear?"

Watching the video disturbingly evokes Macaroni Grill waiters yelling "86." :p

Or someone who does not speak English; or does not understand screaming, accented English?

Edited: I see that I was not alone in asking this.

As an example as you list GLA as a home airport, I would have a far easier time understanding the words spoken to me at GLA than at many US airports. (And I suspect that the reverse is true to many Americans, if they transited GLA)

Maybe because you call them "clerks?"

Could someone stuck in one of these dumb exercises claim unlawful detention?

And, likely, because they don't have much to say. There's not a shred of any legal requirement for anybody to obey them when they do this, but they clearly don't want to say so ...

I asked a similar question earlier in the thread (still unanswered).

Basically, how do you know if the TSA personnel in front of you have been invested with law enforcement officer status?

Check to see if they're wearing badges? :rolleyes: :p

If I'm caught in one of these, I have no intention of freezing. TSOs have no legal authority to hinder my movement.

LOL, I agree, but prepare to be barked at by every TSO within close proximity to you! When I had my code bravo experience, I was barked at when I pulled my cell phone and wallet out of my bin, when I didn't move away from the belt with my possessions on it fast enough, and when I looked around to try to figure what was going on. Then, I started to talk to some of my family members who I was traveling with, and I was barked at again. If there is truly an emergency, should the TSA agents be focused on the issue rather than passengers who want to hold onto their possessions?!

I was caught in one of these a couple of years ago at LAX. I had cleared security at T7 and was on my way to the RCC when TSOs started running around screaming, "Everyone freeze!" Stupid me, I thought this was a real emergency -- I'll always cooperate in a real emergency, no matter who is asking for my cooperation. Now that I know this is just another dog-and-pony show by TSA, I'll simply keep walking to the RCC. They can yell as much as they want to. I may respond by telling them that they have no legal authority to require me to do anything, or I may simply ignore them. If they call a LEO, I'll be happy to cooperate with the LEO as I explain that, while he has the legal authority to stop me, detain me or arrest me, TSOs have no such power.

What if the LEO detains you for ignoring the TSA agent?