The incident in question allegedly occurred in January 2007, only enhancing the bizarreness of it all.

Rockland man allegedly posed as agent to board plane

By O’Ryan Johnson
Wednesday, November 26, 2008

State police and airline ticket agents whisked a Rockland man who claimed he had a gun around TSA security checkpoints at Logan International Airport, putting him on a plane after he flashed a Chatham assistant harbormaster’s badge and claimed he was a federal agent, an FBI affidavit said.

Federal prosecutors yesterday charged Stephen Grant, 48, of Rockland with impersonating a federal agent. Grant is a medical supply salesman who worked summer weekends in Chatham monitoring boaters.

Grant told the Herald last night he is innocent, claiming a misunderstanding, and said the situation was settled nearly two years ago after he admitted to mistakes and paid a $4,000 fine. He said at no time did he carry a gun.

http://tinyurl.com/5pxl35

and i'm the king of spain with my tootsie-pop as the royal scepter

what a jerk and what a screw up on all parties involved

Why did it take almost two years to charge him?

There have been lots of published accounts (since 9/11) of people claiming to be "railroad police" being allowed to carry guns through airport screening stations.

Great two years later and he gets charged. The only people who should be charged are the ones who should have stopped this by following policy as written.

At least 5 people had the opportunity to catch this guy, yet nobody did.

If it were a bottle of water, you bet he would have been in jail by now.

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From: Railroad Special Agents:

"All of the major Class I railroads and most regional carriers employ their own police departments whose officers carry the title Special Agent. Railroad Special Agents are commissioned by the Governor or other agency of the state they are employed in, are armed, and carry state arrest powers in all states in which their employing railroad owns property, if authorized by the state. Their primary concern is policing crimes against the railroad, although they sometimes have the authority to police the general public, make arrests on public property, and enforce applicable local, state, and/or federal laws when necessary."
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Thus as sworn, full-time law enforcement who are armed and have arrest power, "railroad police" would be authorized to carry firearms onboard an aircraft if they had a letter from their department stating a need for them to have their weapon accessible from the time they would otherwise check the weapon until the time they would retrieve the weapon after deplaning.

Am I the only one who finds the idea of privately employed police officers somewhat unseemly? The payment of a salary creates an obligation that could all-too-easily run counter to the duties of a law-enforcement officer.

If a privately employed police officer witnesses a crime committed by his/her employer or employee thereof, does ignoring that crime constitute bribery (salary would stop if the arrest were made)?

How often can this be the case? How many railroad assets are in the aircraft cabin or "sterile" area of an airport.

While off-topic, I will say that sure there is potential for conflict of interest, but is that different from any other infinite number of similar scenarios in life? All I can say is if doesn't fulfill his sworn duties and gets caught, there are consequences for that


Probably not - honestly it seems more likely that the company would be held liable for threatening retaliatory action against their employee for doing what he was supposed to do


That's not necessarily the issue - the law lays out 6 situations for carrying onboard:

1) On a protective assignment
2) On a surveillance assignment deemed to be hazardous
3) On official travel required to report to another location, armed and prepared for duty
4) Employed as a Federal LEO and required by agency policy to be armed at all times
5) Escorting a prisoner
6) TSA Federal Air Marshal on duty status

The ones that could apply here include (1), (2), (3), and (5) - definitely most likely (3) - this is basically the catchall reason the LEO's use to carry when they want to