I am sitting in my room at the Hampton Inn Shreveport Airport tonight, and I cannot believe the continuing level of security that they run here at this airport!

When entering the facility, one goes through a TSA-esque occupied booth by the entrance, where one moron flunky asks for you to open your trunk (if applicable), and then waves you on to the terminal or to parking.

My question is...why? Even at WAS, LGA, SFO, or at other "hightened security" airports is this not happening.....why?? It seems that people around this area blindly go along with the stupid, overzealous policies of the TSA and do as they ask. I have been around the block once ot twice...but this place takes the cake.

Does this have something to do with Barksdale AFB here in town (where the majority of the US-based B-52's are based...along with their associated nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons are based)? If so, why isn't this advertised?

Once again, yet another example of the DHS destroying our liberties. I'm sure more will be to come tomorrow.

I've wondered myself about checking the trunk of every car driving into the airport at SHV.

The trunk checkers are not TSA, but local LEO. I suspect, though I'm not sure, that's a procedure established by the airport board, and I don't believe it has any connection to Barksdale. The B-52 base is 10 or so miles away in Bossier City, though some of their planes occasionally use SHV to practice approaches.

They must have top secret info

I don't know why, but the trunk of the car in "Repo Man" just came to mind...

Because it's Shreveport. Do you know how many residents of Shreveport would be incapable of gaining employment with anyone but the TSA?

Several smaller airports I frequented in the past had this idiotic practice in place off and on until just recently, always conducted by local and/or airport LEOs. It always annoyed me to have to stop, particularly given how ridiculously cursory most of those searches were (as if they could actually find anything).

Could you tell them to go forth and multiply as they didn't have probably cause to search your car and still head into the airport?

I was returning a rental car in Corpus Christi in mid-January and the same thing happened. The cop got really annoyed when I shut off the engine and witnessed him looking in the trunk.

Hmm, I didn't try, but they had signs posted to the effect that driving onto airport property constituted "consent" for such searches. I can't speak for the legality of said searches, though.

I think that's asking for a legal challenge, personally.

And I just love implied consent.

I've seen that a number of times at LAX. Always actual police officers conducting the searches, never TSA.

I spoke up at one of the trunk checkpoints at different airport when trying to return a rental car. The screener trotted out the "The 9/11 victims don't think this is overkill or stupid. We're doing this for them" line.

I told the rental car people that next time, they could just pick up the car in the roadway outside. Sad to say, they'd heard the same complaint many times before.

I would have said something to the search, but my experience with the Galveston (TX)Sherriff's Dept. would prove me otherwise...

I was getting on the ferry in Bolivar (to Galveston), and the GCSO stopped me at the checkpoint and said something like "By the authority of the Patriot Act, we are searching your car.. ..if you refuse, you will be barred from this ferry and must leave..." I would have taken pretty much anything except being kicked off the ferry, so I, of course, consented (it's like a 3 hour detour, vs. a 45 minute drive after the Ferry).

This is really the first time in my life that I felt violated due to security, and this event really took the cake. Only about 3 weeks ago, beginning of March --two thousand freakin' seven.....and crap like this is still taking place in America. It really upset me, and I am sooooo such a believer in personal rights and individual freedoms.

Anyways, this taught me that, if one wants to be left alone, thy ought to be violated and and go on about your business.

Doesn't that sound like some worthless gangster movie? Oh, well...such as we have become....

Always love that one.

"We're doing this for you and the children and the 9/11 victims and Lee Greenwood... oh, and that much better paycheck than the one I was getting from McDonald's."

Did they just do a cursory look in your trunk or a more intrusive all doors open, hood & trunk open, glove box open search? How about your personal belongings that happened to be in the car?