Caradoc

The TSA may not steal it themselves, but they're certainly not going to watch it for you either.

Pesky Monkey

Another reason to lock your carry on and just have them do a bag check on it. At least then you have a chance to witness it.

Ari

There is still the Rolex lawsuit involving bailment under the FTCA.

RatherBeOnATrain

A quote from the article Confirmed: Fullerton Cop Arrested for Stealing iPad at TSA Checkpoint:

"After the security footage was reviewed, Miami police canvassed the airport and discovered Mejia holding the iPad at the boarding gate."

I was glad to see that the Miami PD saved the day.

PlatinumScum

Link?

CelticPax

If I have to travel for work, and there's a distinct possibility of it in the coming months (ironically, for a project that will actually contribute to the nation's safety, even if a small way), and I get hassled about keeping my belonging's in sight, I plan to tell them it's for security, anything for security, and that they should be ashamed.

Every passenger needs to look after their stuff not only to ensure it's not stolen but to make sure bad things don't slip into the secure area. They should insist passengers do it.

/ Would love to throw the "If you've done nothing wrong, you've got nothing to hide" back at them too.

mre5765

I like that. I'm going to vary it a bit though:

"If you aren't doing anything wrong, then you've no reason to hide my property from me, do you?"

Definitely. Kudos to MPD.

InkUnderNails

Here

nachtnebel

"Do You Want To (get your property back ) Today?"

Ari

Thanks for doing this for me. ^

RatherBeOnATrain

Fullertonsfuture.org posted the Complaint/Arrest Affidavit (PDF)

Reading it gave me a better understanding of how other passengers might steal my items from a checkpoint.

FLgrr

At TPA recently, I was separated from my items and the TSA said I made it up. I did not want to go through more than the metal detector and was being stopped for the pat down. While waiting, my belongings got to the end on the secure side and that was out of my sight. This was only for a few moments but that is all it takes for someone that wants to do something.

I tried to politely point out that I could not see my belongings. I was told 'you surely can if you stand here'. Which was not where they told me to stand while awaiting my molestation. I yelled for the supervisor loudly. He ran over and even ignored my information that I could not CLEARLY see the items from where they made me stand. I was given the 'we do no wrong' kind of response instead of thinking that opps something could have gone wrong.

Thegweni

It makes no difference whatsoever, insisting you keep your belongings in sight. Three times now at PHX I have had the TSO say “I don’t care” and tell me if I went through the RapeScan I would see my belongings. On the last occasion, my laptop and shoes ended up at different ends of the belt by the time I managed to get to them.

Oh, and don’t bother complaining because you will get a form response saying the agents are being trained and corrected, only to have the same thing happen the next week.

cb1111

There is a positive side to this and that is that the bad guys almost always get caught.

If you review theft at checkpoint reports for the past several years you would see that in virtually every instance the thief was located at the gate and the property recovered.

Let's keep this in perspective. While it is fun to bash the TSA (sometimes deservedly) this is not one of those times.

Metal detectors and baggage screening devices have been around for eons and lots of stuff would get stolen. The amount of stolen laptops was staggering. Now, there are only one or two reports a month of something going missing at checkpoints.

What's the difference between now and then? CCTV and the bag guys know they are being watched. The Fullerton cop certainly should have known but we know that all crooks are stupid.

TSA doesn't know what belongs to whom when it comes out of the screening maching and realistically there is no way of resolving that problem without dramatically slowing down throughput.

The most common items that are stolen at checkpoints are watches, jewelry and wallets. Very few laptops, tablets or cellphones are taken.

Since all of the people at the checkpoint are passengers (with a very small percentage of non flying accompanying family members,) all of the thefts are crimes of opportunity with the bad guy thinking "that watch looks nice." These thefts are usually very easy to prevent. Just dump all your stuff (watch, jewelry, wallet) into your carry-on and send it through the machine. Put your laptop in the last bin you send through to give yourself a better chance of being on the other side when it pops out of the machine.

This is NOT a TSA failure, but rather a success story about how personal security has improved at checkpoints over the years.
)

Mientree

To me, the most disturbing and sad part is the initial attitude presented to the police - "I found it, so I'm going to keep it."