The worst part is that the cop might have indeed used that as the charge, despite the pax not doing anything to truly disrupt the screening process

When I got to IAD this morning, the line was about 30 minutes long. I wasn't able to get Mr. Chicken to add me to the standby list for an earlier flight, so I hung out for a while and just watched the line before heading for the United RCC.

What I noticed was quite interesting. The airport staff did a fairly good job of rearranging the lines, taking the original crowd and feeding them into three or four lines rather than one that didn't break up until close to the checkpoints. The ID checkers were going down the lines rather than waiting for pax to come to them, which helps (IAD stamps BPs to indicate the checker has seen them).

A 3-stripe TSA supervisor was helping direct pax to the shortest lines at the checkpoints (after the long airport-managed lines). The odd thing, though, is that they started shutting down a number of lanes when there was still a big crowd--seems they could have kept them open another 5-10 minutes and handled a lot more of the masses. The check-in crowds were slacking off as the morning banks of flights headed out, so I can see why they felt they needed less screeners, but it did seem they closed lanes too early and thus kept the wait time constant rather than going ahead and clearing it out.

The 3-stripe got in an argument with one of the airport staffers over which lanes she was sending people to ... not sure what that was about. By the time I joined the line, it was down to 15 minutes long, anyway.

A charge and arrest for sure....but a conviction? Also, consider this: would the federal whistle blower protection laws apply to a private citizen who is reporting fraud? Could this person have allowed themselves to be arrested, then turned around and sued the police under the whistle blower laws because he was attempting to report on, or prevent an act of fraud by a government employee.

That's correct, Bruce. No one ever has any problems getting through security here; no one is ever harassed, let alone threatened with the "Do you want to fly today?" should you dare ask a question or inquire. Nope nope nope, the TSA is perfect, all employees are friendly, they all follow SOP, and no one should ever question anything, even Privacy Act violations... Besides, think of the children!

SDF_Traveler

If their motives are pure, then they can do anything! "We're only trying to keep you safe," so what's the problem? (Maybe I don't want or need the government to keep me safe from extremely remote events?)

Bruce

I got a chuckle from the security video at IAD this morning--which I generally ignore--when it said, "Remember, the screeners primary interest is YOUR security!"

Airports do kind of cheat. I have been a "timer" at ORD. However it is always during a lull and the line is quick! Certainly not an average!

I just copied the letter and sent it to my local congress critters, also providing examples of problems at my local airport.

That certainly was a real rent-a-cop attitude As far as charges, $20 says the individual would be arrested for disorderly conduct. Disorderly conduct is extremely vague and ambigious in most states, officers can apply it to just about anything (especially a bored airport cop with an attitude looking for some excitement).

I hope the letter finds the way to the local airport FSD. Only thing I fear is the name attached to the letter, but if the FSD or someone abused their position and added the name to a selectee list or no-fly list, I am sure the individual could make much more noise and get it published in the press. For that reason, I doubt such an abuse would happen, but you just don't know these days. Besides, it won't be long until every common name is on "the list".

FWIW, when I do write complaint letters, write something to a newspaper or am interviewed on the subject, I use a variation of my full legal name. This variation is what I go by but is different than full legal name which is used on airline tix I purchase. I would suggest others do the same - it can't hurt.

SDF_Traveler

I too was a timer in ORD. It was also after the rush hour crush. When the bouncer gave me the card at the entrance to the line, one of the id checkers followed me through the maze and conveniently opened a new entrance to the checkpoint right in front of me! She checked my ID, gave me a big enough grin to alow me to appreciate her gold tooth and took the card! Time in line... 1 min 30 seconds (approx.)

Weird. It sounds like she was trying to make them look extremely quick and efficent. That police officer should have been reprimanded. There was no warrant for an arrest.

http://www.newsobserver.com/news/sto...-9090741c.html
from Wednesday, August 3 Raleigh newspaper:

Inquiry focuses on RDU security
Wait times were doctored, flier says
Levitan says screeners changed his wait time twice.
By MICHAEL EASTERBROOK, Staff Writer
The federal administration responsible for screening passengers and bags at U.S. airports is investigating a Triangle man's claim that a screener at Raleigh-Durham International Airport lied about the time it took him to get through a security checkpoint.
The Transportation Security Administration opened the inquiry July 27 after seeing a letter to the editor in The News & Observer, said Christopher White, an administration spokesman. In the letter, Ben Levitan of Raleigh described how screeners allegedly fudged the time it took him to clear security.

Levitan, 47, claims that on two occasions late last year, screeners at RDU asked him to participate in a test used to measure how long it takes passengers to move through security checkpoints.

As he entered the line, they handed him a piece of paper stamped with the time and asked him to turn it in once he cleared the checkpoint. Instead, though, they grabbed the paper from him midway through the line and recorded the time as if he had already passed through, he said.

Levitan said he didn't think much of it the first time it happened on a Saturday morning in October. But when it happened again the following month, he complained to the screener.

"I said, 'What are you doing? I'm not out of the line yet,'" recalled Levitan, who works as an electrical engineer for a cell phone operator and flies about twice a month. "She said, 'Sir, you need to cooperate.'"

White declined to comment on the status of the investigation and said he didn't known when it would be completed.

"We take these allegations seriously," he said. "We have a unique public trust."

At airports throughout the country, screeners frequently ask passengers to carry time-stamped cards through checkpoints as a way of measuring wait times, White said.

He said the average wait at RDU was 3.9 minutes, while the average during peak hours was 11.2 minutes. Peak hours are when passenger flow is heaviest, usually Monday mornings and Friday afternoons.

When USA Today crunched numbers from the administration, it found that the average wait time at RDU was 5.4 minutes, according to a report that appears on the newspaper's Web site.

White said he's confident the administration's numbers are correct and added that most airports would be happy with RDU's wait times.

"I would say that a 3.9-minute wait time would be considered to be good at any airport in the country," White said.

Several passengers waiting for flights Tuesday said RDU checkpoints flowed smoothly compared to those at other airports. Only one traveler complained about the checkpoints.

"They appear to me to be very slow," said Barbara Irwin, 59, of Wilson, who was flying to Indianapolis to visit her daughter.

The Transportation Security Administration, part of the Department of Homeland Security, staffs checkpoints at more than 400 airports nationwide with 45,000 screeners. It currently employs 286 screeners at RDU and plans to reduce that number by five through attrition, White said.

The cuts are part of a nationwide reshuffling of screeners announced last week. While some airports will lose screeners, others will gain.

Mindy Hamlin, a spokeswoman for RDU, said the reduction probably would not affect wait times at the airport. But she warned that further cuts might.

"You do reach a point if you continue to reduce staff where you can't keep the wait times down," Hamlin said.

Staff writer Michael Easterbrook can be reached at 836-5701 or [email protected].

Fellow FTers, this result is EXACTLY why we need to keep filing complaints, writing to newspapers & other media, writing to our Congressional representatives, and generally staying in the face of the TSA. I'm not hopeful that anything substantive will come out of this, but we, specifically the writer, have made several TSA people squirm and not get away with something they would have gotten away with if somebody, at risk of being arrested (see his letter above), hadn't put their civic duty above self.

We've got to take back our government, one "letter to the editor" at a time if necessary!

Who wants first crack at THAT line?

I'll take it. They have a unique public trust in exactly the same way that -1 is a unique positive integer.

It upsets me that I have to tell the poor children that this story is untrue..How's that?

Have a great day all!