Both were totally justified. You guys should think twice before badmouthing people who are only doing their job and keeping our schools safe.
The deadliness of 10-year olds is oftentimes underestimated, like in the present case. It is a little known fact that ALL the most vicious criminals in American history, at some point of their nefarious career have indeed been 10-year olds themselves. Surprising, isn't it ? Even worse, take any three 10-year olds and there you have it: a 30-year old and I hope nobody on this board would question how dangerous that could be. Thank God, the officer didn't have to deal with such an extreme case and we can only thank the prompt action on part of the school authorities to keep the situation under control.
So "bravo" to all the people involved. It make me sleep better knowing that our LEO don't lack people with enough guts to tase a 6-year old and that school officials are constantly on the watch and will suspend any 4th graders trying to smuggle tylenol in.

Absolutely right!!! Think about ten 3-year-olds (= one 30-year-old) ganging up on some unsuspecting innocent citizen. Makes you stop and reconsider, doesn't it?

Bruce

At least we're helping to propagate the next generation of paranoid sheep ^

Oh, please. Quite a stretch to compare U.S. police agencies to Nuremberg, don't you think? Our policies are written and well spelled out. Everyone, from the lowest ranking clerk to the chief of police has a complete copy of them, and they're also on the intranet for easy access. If you don't follow them, you won't be working for us too long. If the agency in the article had a written policy that ALL arrestees, regardless of age, must be handcuffed, the arresting officer is mandated to comply with the policy under threat of disciplinary action for non-compliance. You just don't make your own rules along the way when you work in a police agency.

You're right, instead, the TSA sends out a letter for a civil fine in the tone of "pay up or else". Nice options there.

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=378330

and this thread is posted in the travel safety/security forum becuz ???

I think its pretty clear what was going on here:

Let's read between the lines here and figure out what the reporter was afraid to actually report..... he dropped enough clues.

Somehow I don't think you hear about a 4th grade girl getting this treatment in SPRINGFIELD, MS where her name could be Jane Smart and her month Mary Smart.

Actually it's a fantastic analogy.

The articles on this issue all state that the girl didn't threaten anyone with the scissors.

It's highly probably that the teacher's missing object which initiated this mass search of everyone's bags pissed of the teacher enough that (s)he wanted to punish someone, so the girl with the scissors was an easy target, even though she had done nothing and threatened nobody with her "weapon." So the pissed off teacher gets to go on a little power trip in front of her students by calling in the administrators/cops using "rules" as an excuse. Then the administrators decided to continue making an example of this girl using the "rules" and "law" as an excuse.

Then the cop decides to arrest the girl, as opposed to deciding there was no arrestable offense or just taking her to her mother or in for "questioning" sans arrest and handcuffs.

The teacher, administrator, and cop are all responsible for this incident. I'm sick of hearing "I was just following orders/rules" from people who use it as an excuse to go on a power trip at the expense of an innocent victim.

I understodd the reprocussions of the pat-down well before we even implemented them. We had a round-table discussion with our screeners about the new procedures and everyone discussed their thoughts and feelings about it. We all understood what we were getting ourselves into. So when a passenger complains about the pat-down we don't get offended, because we already know that people will get offended. Just because I work for TSA does not mean that I am in-human or un-american as it is frequently posted. Many businesses have policies that are deemed outrageous. TSA is one of them. However, if people want to remain employed, someone's got to do the dirty work.

For a sizeable knife, sure, I can see why a fine is imposed. But for scissors, unless the scissors were artfully concealed, take them back to the car, mail them, give them to a friend that's not traveling, whatever...they are just not going beyond the checkpoint. We cannot do anything different.

Well, it's well posted in this thread about how this country is going downhill in their policies and TSA is at the helm. So, why not? This forum has become the "TSA bashing forum." Then again, this forum was designed for the flyers and not screeners, so I respect all opinions posted here.

Originally, I started this thread to help lessen the bashing on us, but it has, in turn, added more fuel to the fire. Oh, well. It's good reading anyway!

Let's just make sure about your answers here. In your opinion, it's ok to fine people for carrying prohibited items in their carryons before they clear the (first) checkpoint?

Even if they have no clue (and lord knows there are many out there that are clueless) about what is and is not a prohibited item?

On a list that is constantly changing, and for the most part, the finer details kept secret from the flying public?

Now, the rules change if the person "skillfully" tries to hide the "prohibited item" from the screeners. That's where THE LAW (criminal court) comes in and prosecutes the person. And if found guilty, by all right, fining that person is allowed. Even the courts assess an "administrative fee" for every x dollars in the fine.

^ for starting this thread. It demonstrates that TSA leaders do not hold a monopoly on lunacy.

About this forum's history: It was originally conceived for two reasons:

1. Several FlyerTalkers began originating threads in Newstand to rant about the TSA and frequent flyers yet they had no news story to discuss, so their threads were off-topic and were closed.

2. Several other vocal FlyerTalkers became weary of my threads (and Spiff's, too) ranting about ridiculous airport security policies and lobbied to banish discussions about airport security to this new unmoderated (at the time) forum.

If they haven't come through security how can we fine them? If I made that kind of comment, show me where so I can retract it.

I have no control over that one. I just report everything discovered and regulatory makes the assessments.

If the person is intentionally trying to bring a prohibited item through, I feel they should be fined. Will it stop him from trying again? Probably not.

These are just my opinions, that's all.

Tom, I take your handle and the use of the word Our to mean you are in Law Enforcement. Would you handcuff a nine year old girl because she had scissors at school?

Fine; if procedures require handcuffing all arrestees (I guess that includes Martha Stewert too) then do so. But why did they arrest a 9 year old because she had scissors??? Did procedures require that too?

The rest of your post about procedures and 'ordnung' also applied at Nuremberg.