I've never experienced my wallet rifled through.. but we've had the diaper bag searched.

Envelope Mail In Carryon
 

:cool: Thanks for the info "Ink".
I will address to myself and then get it hand cancelled at the PO before flying.

Really don't know if that will do what you think it will. Will they be able to force you to open it? No. Can they then not allow you to fly? Yes. Right or wrong (I think most agree on that answer), the reality is what it is at the moment.

Based on what we've heard from people claiming to be TSA employees, they can deny you access to the sterile area for any reason they can come up with.

After all - they don't have to justify their decision to anyone - and if asked, they'll just claim that it's "SSI."

This is what happens when you give idiots the idea that they actually have power.

The problem is they do. Arguably not legal nor Constitutional but they can still make you miss your flight and otherwise ruin your day :( .

Or put you in the 'fish bowl' for a limitless amount of time.

No, they don't.

But enough people believe they do to make it possible.

Think about it - if every passenger forced every TSA clerk to adhere to what we know about the rules, the checkpoint would come to a complete stop.

How long do you really think that could possibly last?

What do you think would happen if the real LEOs started telling the TSA clerks to knock off the attempts at using the LEOs as the punitive measure instead of telling passengers to "just play along with the dog and pony show" as Stacey Armato was told to do?

Totally agree with you on MHT. I had a very bad experience there myself.

Because the TSA is really about the drug war.

Huh? I thought such laws only applied if you were carrying.

I'm not talking about "what if" scenarios. Right NOW, checkpoint workers have the subsumed power to deny a passenger entry to the secure area for any reason if they want to. Yes, you can file a complaint (good luck with that), instigate a lawsuit if you have money to throw away, or simply bolt from the checkpoint and see how far you get.

In case I wasn't clear enough, this is NOT RIGHT but it is the current situation. You want to board a flight, they can and do make it so that you don't. You don't think that's power and you don't think they know it ?

It is a best practice to hand it over every time. Otherwise when the cop runs your license and sees that you have it he will wonder why you weren't upfront.

I think they know they've got implied authority - but no power. Power != authority.

Thanks for the advice, folks. After having my wallet sifted through in CMH, I've stopped carrying -anything- in my pockets, unless I'm in LGA where I have to carry my BP. :-D After TDC, I slip my ID and BP into my carryon, lock it, and smile as it sails through the x-ray.

It's a reasonable precaution, but it's not hard to open a zippered bag with a lock on it and leave no trace when the bag is re-closed.

If I'm ever forced by circumstances to fly while the blue-shirted jackboots still occupy the terminals, I'll be using a hard-sided carry-on with a good keyless padlock on it.

Flying through MKE yesterday I put my money clip in the bin and saw it enter the machine. The blue-shirted clown raised his hand and called over another wannabe cop. He looked at my money clip and asked why I had foreign currency in it (Canadian dollars mixed with USD). I told him it was none of his business. I saw a cop and waved him over and told him I was being asked questions that did not pertain to airport security and I wanted my rights protected. The blue-shirted baboon handed over my money clip and I proceeded to count the money in front of him saying out loud if any of it is missing I will ask the police officer to make an arrest (I was joking under my breath). I think it's time to threaten our politicians that if they don't do something we won't elect/re-elect them. Funny, if they were forced to go through this there would be changes in a heart beat.

I wonder how well one of these would go over with the wallet-pawing crowd.

Well done and a very appropriate way to handle it. ^

Great work in effectively retraining a screener.

Immediate actions like the poster above took, and/or taping and publishing such encounters seem to be the only way to get the TSA's attention.

Note how quickly PV counters the you tube video or blog post of the day, vs the typical response received on a formal complaint.

I imagine that the screener who had the LEO brought over will think twice before assuming similar improper authority again. He may never even remember the event 2 months later, when/if the "official" submitted complaint makes it back to him.

I'd really like to get Bart, or SATTSO, or GSOLTSO to explain how, after all of the supposed training TSO's get, some of their colleagues still behave in such an incorrect manner. Why someone is carrying Canadian or any other currency poses no threat to aviation security.

Yet another reason why TSA is the agency Americans love to hate.

Are lighters now allowed?

Billfold Inspections are Happening in Tulsa
 

Tulsa TSA went through my billfold Thursday before last even though they had zero cause . I guess they were looking for some kind of imaginary dollar bill threat. I'm a mild mannered senior citizen. Tulsa's TSA has historically always been very unfriendly. I didn't opt out of anything. I just stepped out of the millimeter wave machine and the guy put his hand inside my pants and asked me to hand over my billfold which I had held above my head, as instructed, while inside the machine. I had removed my belt and watch and had absolutely nothing in my pockets.

This is the reason I lock mine in my carry on. Anything on your person is subject to search at a whim of the screener.

No, it wouldn't.

The TSA reference is to state issued ID cards by the DMV or whatever the name of the agency is in that state.

In Texas the Department of Public Safety (DPS = state police) issue both DL's and CHL's.

Fair enough, but what do you think the chances are of the TSA clerk having the CCW permit in his ID book?

TSA: The Sleazy Agency
 

Today they are going through our wallet. Tomorrow their dirty hands will be all over our genitals. All done in the name of "homeland security". When will it be stopped? It looks like the real terrorists are the TSA agents themselves.

Bolding mine.

Tomorrow? Where have you been? They have been doing this for some time now. :(

+1 Siriously, where have you been?

IND is my home airport and have not experienced this-- yet.

If (i.e. when) if happens to me, I'll press for a reason as to why they need to inspect it.

I was going through IAH and TSA employee picked up my wallet and started to open it, when I saw him, I immediately motioned for the police office standing just a few feet away.

The office came over and after being told that TSA employee is going through my wallet, the police office asked the TSA employee if he saw anything suspicious on the X-Ray, when the Employee said no, the police officer told him to hand over the wallet to the passenger and then asked me to check it to ensure nothing was missing.

I checked it as instructed and upon finding everything in its place, the police officer reminded the TSA employee he is still able to be arrested for violating Texas law and walked off.

I collected the rest of my things and thanked the officer for assisting me, he said not a problem, he was just doing his job. I thanked him again and asked where I could send in a commendation for him and said to check the Houston Police Website and gave me his Badge number and full name.

Dan

Too bad he didn't just go ahead and arrest him.

Nice job Dan ^ and nice job by the Houston Police Officer ^

It's nice to see that at least a couple cops are willing to stand up against the clerks. If only that trend would spread to other airports...

And in that case, the wallet should have been looked thru but as noted (with the bolding and enlarging mine)

As noted, knives show up on the x-ray. The TSO was rooting through a wallet that already cleared the x-ray. (btw, knives are not a threat to airline security).

Interestingly, I was surprised the TSA employee was honest, he could have said, I did see something and I am not sure what the police officer would have done.

As I see it, if he saw something I understand the need to clear it, but to simply root around something as important as a wallet just seems stupid and risky for the TSA employee singularly and the agency as a whole.

As a side note, I was talking with a friend who works for the FBI (as an accountant, not too sexy of a position) and he said that most FBI agents (that he talks with) feel that TSA employees should not have the title of Officer and instead should just be civil servants.

He said that by calling them officers it does lead to this kind of wallet searching behavior, if they feel they are law enforcement, than they have more rights than the common man.

Dan

How so? Their cameras never work when they show the TSA doing something wrong.

All they'd do is trot out that tired old chestnut about how "...TSA holds all of its employees to the highest professional and ethical standards and has zero tolerance for misconduct in the workplace..." and claim that the employee(s) in question were being "retrained."

I don't see much risk for the TSA or the individual screener just for rooting through someone's wallet, even if they took their driver's license and credit cards to make photocopies of them (which has happened!)

Disagree. They would trot out that tired old chestnut about how "the reports and statements the TSA has received indicate some inconsistencies with how the incident has been described".