Sometimes the TSA gets it right
 

This is an embarrassing story ...

Flying BOS-LGA on Wednesday on the US shuttle, carrying just a messenger-style bag. Bag goes through the x-ray and the screener sees something he doesn't like. Another TSAer looks through the bag and digs out a camera, an electric razor and an EZ Pass automatic toll transponder. She then puts my bag through the x-ray again, but the screener still is not satisfied. The second TSAer digs through the bag again and, after some time, unsurfaces <gasp> a box cutter. (I moved Boston apts recently, a process that required prodigious box cutter use, and apparently I threw it in my messenger bag at some point in the process. Either that or I'm a terrorist.)

The TSA agents were extremely polite -- almost friendly -- and professional, but told me to expect to be there awhile. Apparently if they find a knife, they just confiscate it and send you on your way. With a box cutter, they have to call the state police ("staties" in Massachusetts parlance). (Ok, so in general this post is about the TSA doing a good job, but that rule is just plain idiotic.)

They took my boarding pass and ID and filled out some official TSA form (when asked, the TSAer promised the form would not result in secondary screening for the rest of my life). The statie came, asked me my occupation and an for an explanation, and then went off and made a phone call, presumably to check on my rap sheet. After a total of about 10-15 minutes (long enough for me to miss the earlier shuttle I had hoped to catch), I was free to go.

I told the TSAer to be sure to give the x-ray screener a gold star.

Don't feel too embarassed, it could happen to anybody. It's good the response from the State cop was proportionate.

I understand the history behind it, but I don't see an inherent reason why a passenger in possession of a box cutter would be treated differently from one with a knife.

Horse, barn door.

Box cutters and knives should not be prohibited and we should stop wasting time and resources looking for such items. :td:

Well, will they fine you?

They might. Sounds about like what we do here in HSV when we have to fill out an incident report on stuff like gun components and knives over three inches and things of that nature.

How much is the fine for something like that? or are those listed on the tsa web site somewhere?

OP, you got it completely WRONG. They're "nice" to you as they're filling out the forms and tell you not to worry. However, you may receive a fine notice in the mail some time. Nice of them not to tell you that, right? :rolleyes:

As HSVTSO Dean said, they might. But I doubt it. If everything went down just as the OP said, he shouldn't have much to worry about. He was apologetic and cooperative through out the entire experience. These things will be noted in the report and will be mitigating factors when a decision is made about any penalty. He will not end up on a watch list and my guess is that he will never hear another word about it. At most airports, finding a box cutter will not bring the type of response that it did in BOS. Each FSD has the power to go above what the SOP calls for. In other words, you have to do at least what the SOP says, which is ask the passenger to surrender the item, offer them the option of placing it in checked baggage or returning it to their car/ give to someone not traveling. However, BOS seems to be a bit sensitive when it comes to box cutters and they are required to call a LEO. It may be the FSD putting this policy in place on his own or it could be pressure from MASSPORT or the State Police forcing him to do so because of the BOS 9/11 connection. PHL used to require a LEO for boxcutters, but I believe our current FSD changed that when he took over a few years ago. At least that's when I think we stopped making those calls.

What a friggin joke. Another box cutter off the streets. I feel so much safer.

My first thought when I saw the title was "even a broken clock is right twice a day" :rolleyes:

Boxcutters were used on 9/11 and therefore an indicator that the person might be a terrywrist.

Sigh. I understand your position on most things the TSA does, but honestly no one has ANY business with any deadly weapon on a plane. Knives and box cutters fit in this as they are very sharp and can easily inflict harm. Yes I know your standard bic pen can be deadly, but not so easily.

Next thing you know you'll be saying people should be able to carry a gun on a plane. :rolleyes:

As of the Enforcement Sanction Guidance Policy TSA has on it's website, the fine could be anywhere from $250 to $1500, dependant upon aggravating or mitigating factors.

But, personally--

--I doubt it also, and for the same reasons that PHLJJS does.

Like the guy from PHL said about his airport, HSV doesn't do this either. It's not so much that when his new FSD came into position that he took it off the list, but TSA as a whole removed box cutters from the list of "must summon LEO when discovered" items. I can't remember exactly when, but I want to say it's been at least a year or two, maybe more. I can remember sitting in in-briefing at the start of shift, and the supervisor mentioning that box cutters (and pepper spray, incidentally) no longer require LEO notification. I just can't remember precisely when this happened.

That's what it sounds like to me. For all we know, Boston or Massachusetts might have their own laws about having a box cutter specifically in the sterile area of an airport, and the FSD, as a courtesy, summons them when they're discovered.

It's why, sometimes, when a person is discovered with, say, a firearm, they're issued a citation for posession of a weapon in a secure area by local police at some airports, and elsewhere they're not, or it's a citation for something different instead. Different areas have different applicable laws that local and state LEOs like to piggy-back off of us with in enforcement.

Jfulcher says:
Knives and box cutters fit in this as they are very sharp and can easily inflict harm.Yes I know your standard bic pen can be deadly, but not so easily.

Well then they shouldn't serve wine out of bottles in 1st and Business Class because someone could break a bottle and sever an artery with those too. Anything can be used to inflict harm if the person really wants to do it. And my laptop battery, while not sharp could potentially knock someone out if done right.

I guess we need to fly wrapped in bubble wrap.

airlinebrat

Why not? A citizen with a CWP is at least as well vetted as a police officer. One gun on each of four planes would have resulted in no TSA crap, no PATRIOT crap, and civil rights still in place plus a bunch of dead or in custody Saudi terrorists.

A diffuse threat requires a diffuse response. TSA et al is exactly what Osama Yo Mama wanted for us.