1. It is a crime to impersonate a Federal Law Enforcement Officer.

2. TSA screening employees are not LEO's.

3. TSA screening employees are now being issued badges which I believe are *intended* to make them look official.

Is that a violation of the law?

Can I issue brass badges, perhaps with an Eagle and a star, which says "United States Citizen"?

If a TSO held up their badge and and claimed to be a Federal Law Enforcement Officer then it would be against the law. But just having the badge is not illegal.

I fail to understand what your driving at here unless they are pretending to be a federal LEO..I mean rent-a-cops get badges so not sure what the big deal is here??
Cheers
Howie

Rent-a-cops don't enforce Federal Law.

There needs to be a clear delineation between LEO's and non-LEO's in the Federal Government.

Exactly - just like dressing up on Halloween - and the kid in a cop costume has the same amount of authority to enforce the law as a Screener does.

Except, when the kid tries to do it, he'll be put in handcuffs and dragged away, when a TSA goon does it, he'll get a "thanks buddy" from the LEO's.

Not so sure about that. Do a scan in this forum and read the opinion of the LEOs here and links to articles that law enforcement (even some TSAers) aren't very pleased with this, either.

All that said, it's only a matter of time that we learn about a TSAer pulling that stunt.

There are several types of "law enforcement officers" under various federal umbrellas. Quite a few, if not most, have very limited powers to engage in "law enforcement." Most of the restrictions have to do with what laws they may enforce, where they can enforce them, whether they have their enforcement powers when they are not officially on duty, and even whether they can make arrests or merely "apprehend."

For instance, absent some sort of special orders or powers, an enlisted member of the military police has police powers only when on duty and on a military installation,and even then, they may only "apprehend" offenders. "Arrest" usually requires a commissioned officer (Yes, I know there are exceptions to this). Even so, they have badges, and some of them carry the badges when off duty--usually against orders.

Maybe some TSO will try and exercise his or her "powers" off duty with the badge, but I don't think they'll get far with it. There are lots of badges out there. Anyone can find an official-looking trinket from a police/security supply company and stick it in their wallet. I've seen some really cool-looking badges that meant nothing at all, from an official perspective, anyway.

The more likely event is that a TSO will flip out the badge on a traffic stop and demand "professional courtesy" on the violation. I have already heard reports of this happening with the cloth badge patches that were/are worn on the old-style TSO uniform shirts. It didn't work very well.

Interesting piece on this at http://aviationweek.typepad.com/airp...-officers.html - which includes a link to a story about it in USA Today.

I replied to the remark given by the TSA employee at the bottom of this story. I think the below article is more appropriate regarding the new uniforms:

http://www.usatoday.com/travel/fligh...a-badges_N.htm

I do not mean this as disrespectful, but in my eyes adding real badges and dark blue uniforms will only cause more spite by the flying public. Although there has been some assaults on TSA personnel, they have been isolated, and I would believe the aggressor in each case was hit with local and federal charges. There is not enough justification to warrant the expense in switching uniforms and adding actual badges.

I agree. Total waste of tax dollars!

Given the waste of tax dollars that TSA represents by merely existing, a few more dollars spent on trinkets isn't all that big of a deal, quite frankly.

Like the officer in this article & others on here have pointed out these new uniforms are asking for trouble.

Re: the article...if they wanted more respect, they need to train the TSOs to be respectful. Respect is earned, not demanded. If they were to choose a uniform, I would suggest a proper suit & tie.

A suit and tie works well with the REAL LEOs who do security work at the higher-level government buildings, and they look damn good. I also should add that they don't bark orders or have arcane rules. I've never been asked to take off my shoes, not bring food/beverages inside the building, nor had to show my ID more than once. When I do present ID, I've never had a LEO give me any grief about what form of ID I present. They're always polite, sometimes even greeting me by name if they recognize me, yet I have absolutely no doubt that if they sensed something amiss they'd draw their weapons and wouldn't be afraid to use them. Do I feel safe at these buildings? Absolutely. Do I feel safe at an airport or on an airline? Absolutely NOT. The illusion of security is a hindrance and distraction to implementing real security.

Since quite a few folks were raised to defer to the men with the shiny badges and always trust them because they're the good guys, this is just TSA's way of getting into the good graces of what is left of the baby boomers and start in on Generation Next.

The rest of us are distracted by shiny things and just stare at the badges while we get lost in the reflective surface.