Security fail at PHX.
 

I don't believe this happened!

A co-worker is headed thru security at PHX this morning. He puts his ba, shoes, etc on the belt and gets in line for the WTMD.

As he approaches the WTMD the screener points at him and tells him he can go thru but instead of sending him thru the WTMD he is directed PAST IT!

He walks right past the WTMD instead of thru it, gets his stuff and continues on his way!

I have no idea what they were thinking, but they sent a completely unscreened passenger right thru!

You're a Police Officer, right?

From other threads, I gather he is.

I think we need him to expand on the LE status of coworker and what the purpose of the visit to the sterile area was.

His LEO status has no bearing. Traveling on a personal trip, only showed TDC a boarding pass and a drivers license.

Im not talking about flying armed where you go completely around the checkpoint, Im talking going through the checkpoint on vacation. Everyone else in front of him went thru the WTMD.

I think the screener accidentally thought he may have gone thru the nude o scope to the side of him.

Is this what the TSA refers to as random procedures to keep the terrorists guessing? ..... They just need to guess if they are getting screened or not! :)

Only if not carrying. If carrying, LEO's (on or off duty) are either instructed to go thru the exit or are sent around the wtmd

Well that is messed up then. My only thought is somehow your coworker let it be known that he was LE. However, if was traveling unarmed, he should have been screened.

Nope, not flying armed.

The gun he had was safely tucked away in his luggage where it hopefully makes it on the plane..... and not into some baggage handlers collection.

Will the screening manager shut down the terminal tomorrow morning instead just to be sure? :rolleyes:

Well, assuming your friend followed the proper procedures and it's in a locked case where only he has the key it will probably be fine. They rarely take whole bags - too easy to track.

Did either you or your co-worker call this to the attention of the supervisor or any of the employees at the screening area? Wouldn't this have been the appropriate/ethical thing to do based upon your sworn status? I'm assuming your co-worker knew that he bypassed the WTMD entirely.

OP: I posted a few weeks ago that the same thing happened to my brother in law and his girlfriend. In their case it was at the Nashville airport.

In light of the abject failure of the TSA to detect any real terrorists, maybe they decided to just skip the theatrics and push a few people through.

That's OK, BillinAZ.

To make up for it later in the day, the PHX TSA wanded several bald men's heads and several girls' bare feet.

Thus the average was restored.

Do you know what was used for I/D to enter the secure area? If the PD I/D was used, then I have a feeling he was allowed to bypass based on that (and a possible screw up on the part of the TDC and/or WTMD gatekeeper thinking he was carrying when in fact he was not)

And this I'll never understand. The TSA has such a burr up their butt about even pilots getting screened, but armed individuals are allowed to waltz right thru. In reality it take waaayyy less to become a LEO in some areas than it does to become a pilot. In some small towns all you need is a high school diploma and make it through academy. You will have a background check, but I doubt it is anywhere nearly as thorough as what the Feds put commercial pilots through. Also, how do they know the person is really a LEO? So many of the TSA apologists were demanding that flight crews be screens "just to make sure they weren't imposters". How is a LEO any different?

And that's still more than is required to become a TSA screener.

As for ID he used a drivers license.

I also have a commercial pilot license.... Background check for that was not done.

Going around the checkpoint when armed requires secure comminication with FAMs in advance.

Other than FAMs it's VERY unusual for an LEO to be allowed to carry on a plane, isn't it? I thought for sure you'd have to be on official business and transporting a prisoner or something?

I thought that was for travel only (NLETS). For concourse access without flying (like investigations or the such), I didn't think that was required-- right?

I thought it's on the honor system, sort of like for SIDA folks, who need to be screened before taking a flight but have free access to the concourse.

You have a commercial license but do you work for a commercial passenger carrier? AFAIK, commercial pilots are FBI screened. This came up repeatedly during the debate about pilots being given patdown.

I would hope that some sort of official check is require for an LEO to entire the sterile area armed, but that unfortunately does not always appear to the case. I know there have been incidents of people bypassing security by simply flashing honorary sheriffs badges.

I don't think so there is a lot more to flying armed than just showing your law enforcement credentials.

FB

There is much more to flying with a firearm in the cabin for a law enforcement officer than just showing that ID.

FB

The communication is for flying. If the LEO tends to need access to the sterile area on any more than an occasional visit, the LEO will probably already have a SIDA badge. Though even with the SIDA badge many times TSA will still have Airport PD verify the LEO credentials.

FB

All holders of pilot's licenses were screened against the watch list (and other lists, too, IIRC). That's not a full background check, but is more of a background check than the general population.

If you fly charter or freight aircraft subject to the 12-5 rules, or into DCA, you most likely had a detailed background check. If you're cleared to fly into one of the DC-3 airports (VKX, W32, CGS), there was a background check that exceeds a SIDA background check. And, of course, pilots operating aircraft under Part 121 have a pretty detailed check.

From your comments, it doesn't sound like you had a check you knew about. But the FAA pilot records were/are screened against the TSA lists.

You are correct.

Once you have everything set up with the FAM's, then you have to use the authorization you get from them along with the ID required to go around the checkpoint. Basically you go through the exit to the side of the security area (where you exit the sterile are after getting off your flight)

A friend of mine is a retired federal LEO. He told me about a time when he was escorting a prisoner/witness on a flight and the TSO felt the need to grief my friend and whatnot. Apparently the TSO thought my friend would not arrest him. He was mistaken. He let the guy go after the supervisor got involved but I gotta think that no matter what SOP says interfering with an federal LEO is probably a bad idea.

No, they didn't shutdown the entire terminals. They did not have a security breach from TSA checkpoint. They did not forced evacuations from concourse. It was remained stay opened all of the time.

Because it was someone who not working at Sky Harbor. He did not have SIDA badge without manager permission to come at work.

Details please . . . :D

I was trying to keep it simple as what the OP is referring to happened at the WTMD but do you mean....

checking it at the ticket counter in the lobby
showing your creds and the pink, green or yellow form to the agent
signing the appropriate form for the agent
obtaining your boarding pass
proceeding to the checkpoint only to enter thru the exit after showing the gatekeeper your bp, creds and little form

and then there's "presenting yourself" to the gate agent where you show your creds and the little form

(with all the above in plane view of those around you who if they were at a minimum o f50% observant, they would see it [but we're talking about the "average person" who is dumb as a post anyway ;)])

I was referring more to simply entering the sterile area, not boarding a flight, but does it really matter? The whole point of the sterile area is that it is well, sterile. Once an LEO is past security then a weapon could be transferred to a passenger, unless the TSA is relying on those ultra super secret gate checks. I personally do not care of an LEO is allowed in the sterile area, as I'm not a paranoid worker of a certain hyper-paranoid government organization. I was merely pointing out yet another whole in the joke of security that the TSA provides.

I hear what you are saying. If the sterile side was truly sterile, there would be no need for LEO's or FAM's to carry their weapons. But, things being as they are, I'll keep my pistol strapped to my hip.

True. But the likelihood of transfer from a LEO or FAM to a regular passenger is considerably higher than the likelihood of the TSA actually catching a tewwowist.

Proof.

There have been significant additions to the procedure in the past two years as well as changes to those that have been mentioned. I haven't done the three part colored form in about three years. It has changed to something else that does draw less attention.

FB

True, I was just trying not to get too specific so I didnt respond.


Funny that I recently came across one of those multi part forms in one bag I havent used in several years!

You might as well just been screaming "Hey. look at me, Im the one with the gun". Nothing like forcing everyone in eyesight to know what you were doing.

Then there is always the fun of flying out of a NYC airport armed (or even with it legally in your checked baggage)....

Are you more entitled to the means for self defense than a non-police officer is?

If so, why?

I can guarantee you that the background checks for my clearance are far, far more involved than anything a run of the mill cop gets.

> "Hey. look at me, Im the one with the gun".

~7 years ago I was on the first departure out of SAN. I was 4th in line,
waiting for the TSA to begin working. (It was clear the 3 guys ahead of
me were together, but I wasn't "with" them.

We all had wallets for our IDs. After I clear the TDC, she shouts, "The
first four guys are FBI agents!" Huh? Whaa? I'm not ...

-doug

Out of an abundance of ...........?

I wouldn't say more entitled, but thanks for the personal attack.

Good to hear that ^ as my late grandmother who was legally blind would be able to spot what I described. Now if you could only get the memo out to those that flash their creds in plane view of other pax in line at the check-in counter as opposed to just handing it over closed with a boarding pass on top of it and let the agent verify it while keeping everything on the backside of the counter so others can't see it ;) (sorry, but I do like to people watch-it's not just at airports :))

There was no personal attack. I don't think you, when traveling for anything other than the performance of your duties, should have any more place carrying a firearm through security than me.

You stated that the reason you want to keep your gun with you is that the so-called sterile area isn't sterile.

I read that as an expression of the opinion that the rules should be different for you when you're traveling than they should be for me, and I don't agree with that opinion.