Security Theater at BWI Today
 

Going through WN security today (Pier B) with my rollerboard. Inside is my navigation system with my dash mount--mounted together. The dashmount is a heavily weighted base. Approx 6 x 6 inches. Very dense material and (I imagine) might look interesting on the xray screen. This was its first time on a plane!

Sure enough, the screener stops the belt and has me look down the chute and identify the bag as mine. She asks basically what could be in there causing that kind of image. I told her. And she said "OK" and started the belt. I took my bag and left. No bag check, no nothing.

SO, we cant take water through, we have to say our names and remove our shoes. BUT, they see something that looks strange and they TAKE MY WORD FOR IT??? If this is our "security plan", I can assure you, the wrong budgets are likely to be cut in the debt reduction plans. :mad:

Perhaps the image wasn't an 'alarm' per se, but she wanted to know what the heck it was out of curiousity.

The sense I got from one of the discussions about answering TSO's questions was that some x-ray operators have some things that are a little suspicious, but not a lot, and if the passenger has a good explanation for it, they'll skip the bag check. To me, that seems like doing things right.

As much as I would love to disparage the TSA, I have to agree with Ari and RichardKenner. A good explanation for an unknown item should usually be sufficient to resolve this kind of situation. The possibility of not allowing TSA screeners to use such judgement is terrifying (this is from someone who considers the TSA far more terrifying than terrorists).

Not picking sides, yet I'm getting from this that the xray tech has discretion, and I was under the impression that discretion was the one thing that TSO's didn't have. No variables, no choices, no decisions, you do the prescribed action, no matter how valuable or not. This is interesting...

There's no way any practical SOP could cover every situation that a TSO could encounter. I don't think it's at all practical to list everything that would cause a bag check: that must be left to the discretion of the operator.

Is it reasonable to assume Mr. Vker's skin tone is, how shall we say, light ?

6' 5" Blonde hair, blue eyes, white male AND I knew my name when they asked.

I understand the points about me having a reasonable explanation, but I also thought they had to inspect if something looked "fishy".

If the worst complaint we have about TSA is how they DON'T subject a perfectly innocuous carryon to an invasive, time-consuming inspection, we're probably doing all right.

Security theater is a term that means doing something for show only, with little or no actual security or deterrent effect. We've all acknowledged that this is TSA's primary function. Let's not complain about not being harassed enough to keep up the charade.

I don't think this is a matter of screener discretion. I think they play it both ways: if a screener wants to deny something reasonable (3.5 ounce container), he/she hides behind "I just have to follow the rules". That same screener may very well cut corners if he/she is lazy - those 'shortcuts' are 'discretionary'.

At least sometimes, I think it's a matter of experience. An experienced and attentive x-ray screener probably feels confident that if he/she is 95% sure what an object is, if the pax confirms it, the item is good to go without a bag check.

Another TSO here who subsequently deleted all her posts said they had an old guy on the x-ray who called 'bag check' on almost every single bag. They called him the 'bag nazi' - he saw illicit liquids in almost every bag and called for a search (nothing there). She speculated offline that it might have been because he was old/drowsy/poor eyesight and was afraid he might miss something or that it was because he didn't like the younger TSOs around him chatting while they stacked tubs/monitored the belts/etc so he kept calling for bag checks to break up the party.

I honestly wonder if some of the gropes aren't the result of inattention in the booth - the voyeur in the booth is fooling around and not paying attention, so he/she calls for a grope on the pax he/she misses.

It's a good thing they didn't ask you for a full description where it was a "navigation system with a small nuclear power supply". Sure take my word for it and make me feel safe :rolleyes:

If she had asked you whether this was a dash mount with a hidden bomb and taken your bag apart, threw around all the stuff, and wasted 45 minutes, you would complain, wouldn't you?

I do miss her sane voice, she was probably "got at". :td:

Wait a minute, BWI is doing the name stupidity now too?

Don't know what her background was, but she was a particularly rare voice of sanity because she seemed able and willing to see all sides.