"Think. Belligerent behavior...will not be tolerated" by the TSA!
 

(Of course they get to define "belligerent". And they ask us to do the thinking? :rolleyes: )


Think. Belligerent behavior, inappropriate jokes and threats will not be tolerated. Such incidents will result in delays and possibly missing your flight. Local law enforcement may be called as necessary.

(Closing paragraph)

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/060313/dcm035.html?.v=40

"TSA strongly encourages passengers to remove their shoes before going through the metal detectors."

Screw them.

TSA "leadership" = Stupid morons with shoe fetishes. :td:

I was checking luggage to be checked for this elderly couple anyway I was opening one of the bags and it was one that was just jammed packed full of stuff. Anyway the old guy says "Don't worry there isn't anything in there thats going to explode." Well right after he said it his eyes just got really wide and started to apologize and I told him not to worry about it I knew he was just joking. I just hate to think if it was another screener that would have taken that comment as threat. I work with a couple that probably would. I don't think you have to take every comment at face value.

^ ^ to you! :)

Old geezer makes a sophomoric joke, apparently realizes it immediately, and a thoughtful person doesn't bring all of the government's weight down on him for it.

Remember, though, no good deed goes unpunished. We're talking about the feds here. Government Karma gonna get you!

TSA should clean up its own backyard before telling people that beligerent conduct won't be tolerated.

TSA itself is exempt. This only applies to you, Citizen. :rolleyes: :mad: :td:

This statement is not a threat in any sense, even if taken absolutely literally.

Deleted

I appreciate your position on this, but I wonder what the police can do. Is it against the law to call somebody an idiot? (Let's set aside for the moment profanity and other aggravating factors.)

Bruce

[QUOTE=omascreener]Anyway the old guy says "Don't worry there isn't anything in there thats going to explode." [QUOTE]

What is the problem? It is a true statement, not a joke. It is a statement that his luggage is safe. Is that illegal now?

Sure, not too bright to ever utter the words "bomb, explode, gun, weapon, drug, hijack, contraband, or shoe" within five miles of an airport.

No they won't. Such incidents will result in my summoning your supervisor, manager or FSD. Local law enforcement may be called as necessary.

There are people who have been arrested/charged for making equivalent statements of truth that may be stupid but are not direct threats (such as retorting to a screener that is aggressively searching a bag, "What are you doing, it's not like I have a bomb in there?" or leaving notes in checked luggage mocking screeners for silly searches of bags by pointing out that the bag contains just clothes and not a bomb.).

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showt...=265155&page=1

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=261967

There have also been flights diverted and innocent passengers interrogated for equivalently-silly things such as the word "BOB" being written on a barf bag (someone thought it might mean "bomb on board.")

It is a shame we have created such a culture of fear that this pax was truly afraid.

omascreener is to be commended for exercising some common sense. TSA in general has a habit of overreacting to such non-threats.

I once considered flying with a "cookie gun" (a metal/plastic press that pushes dough through a stencil to make a shaped cookie) but decided against it because I was afraid TSA would ask "what's this?" and I would out of habit answer "cookie gun" and then get arrested.

Mrs. Fredd and I landed at SFO from PVR a few days ago. We walked from International over to Domestic about 6:15 p.m. to transfer to our domestic leg back to SEA. There was only one crowded security lineup open ("Elite line closes at 6:00 p.m." we were told, but that's another thread ;) ).

So, we're first sent into one of two lines, which then merge into one line, causing people somewhat to crowd in front of each other. We're then subjected to one of those "shouters" who apparently has been ordered to bark out instructions about removing items for screening, removing shoes, etc. At least she's not using the bullhorn that we experienced on a trip through the SFO security line a year or two back.

Mrs. Fredd decides to be daring and to leave her shoes on because one hand is badly swollen after an impromptu volleyball game that morning in the hotel pool (I know, it's a tough life being retired).

Even though she explains that to the TSA, we still sense she is "punished" by being herded into the little corral, and left to stand there for a couple of minutes (the "time out" for small children comes to mind) before an employee gets around to swabbing her running shoes.

The point of my long and meandering story? If anything invites - no, incites - belligerence, it's the very environment that pervades too many U.S. airport security lines. :mad:

We actually feel more "offended" and "violated" when we're groped by employees at FRA and MUC with the special treatment apparently reserved for U.S.-bound flights, but we've found nowhere we've flown in the world thus far to be as offensive as the treatment we receive in too many U.S. airports before we go through the actual screening. :td:

Positively not a crime in any jurisdiction of the USA to call anyone an "idiot." The only hope for retribution in such a case is to convince the LEO that the person is guilty of "disorderly conduct" or "breach of the peace" or whatever it's called in Texas.

The other option is to invoke the new (new in Nov 2001) law and implementing regulations outlawing intimidation/threats/assault, etc. of screeners - but it would take an idiot lawyer for the TSA to argue that calling a screener an "idiot" violated that provision. Of course, yesterday it was revealed that the TSA actually employs just such an idiot: apparently her name is Carla Martin.

This is an example of a situation where the TSA can harrass someone with their unique power to delay a traveler, but not a case where any real punishment can be levied. But the TSA and its screeners would never simply harrass someone with the "keep it up and you'll miss your flight" power to delay someone, would they? ;)

This morning, TSA is saying that "Carla Martin no longer works here." :)

Bruce

And the idiots can't even make up their mind about shoes.

Las Vegas: I start to take off my shoes and they tell me that mine aren't of interest, leave them on.

Next flight, San Francisco: I figure they've decided my shoes don't matter, I leave them on. I draw an EOD swab. I asked them about it and they say it doesn't matter what Las Vegas does, that's how they do it.

Now, a high volume business traveller can learn the rules of the various airports but how can us occasional travellers (that 2P status reflects only two trans-pac trips/year) know the unposted rules of each airport??