Originally Posted by SgtScott31 (Post 10999268)

It's funny to see a person who claimed $18k to the IRS the year before, and now has $42k in cash to start a dry-cleaning business with a "partner," but yet does not know the partner's name, address, or phone number and has no job. Do you think any of them get mad when the currency is seized? They expect it. They cannot show one shred of evidence of legally obtaining the money.

Originally Posted by SgtScott31 (Post 10999268)

I see large sums of money many times with Egyptian families and others in the middle east. They may get questioned, but I have yet to see their money confiscated because they legitimately earned it and have appropriate documentation to prove such.

Originally Posted by KTW (Post 11002414)

Here we go again with all this seizure crap. Come on people! Would anyone here let ANYONE simply take their money?

Originally Posted by KTW (Post 11002414)

Here we go again with all this seizure crap. Come on people! Would anyone here let ANYONE simply take their money? I doubt it.....There is simply noway of posting my next question without there being a 1,000 additional "what ifs" that could be added to it. For the sake of this post we will assume all facts are as stated.....Anyone show me 1 case where an individual had more than $10K in cash and seemed for all practical purposes to not be of a criminal nature and had their money seized without a fight....100% of the time when I fly I have more than $10k and have never been asked anymore than what was my profession. It just doesn't make sense. With the seemingly endless cases people try and refer to one would think seizures happen all the time. It is not possible they happen even 1% of the amount that "seem" to happen. All you would here about on the news is people getting into a monster fight at the airport because some goof tried to take someone's money."King Kong himself could not make me give up my hard earned money".I can't believe I am alone in this thinking.Granted; I am not a criminal and did not obtain the funds by illegal means,but that is irrelevant.I just don't buy it.

Originally Posted by doober (Post 11002872)

Unless I missed something, this discussion is NOT about seizing cash but rather the TSA regularly referring individuals legally carrying large amounts of cash to law enforcement.

Originally Posted by Boggie Dog (Post 11003287)

They apparently are required to do so!

That is the problem in a nutshell.

That pretty well describes the actions of a "Police State".

Originally Posted by SgtScott31 (Post 11003583)

The $10k mark is misconstrued by TSA personnel. While the IRS may possibly tax amounts over $10k that leaves the US, since we have no outbound international flights where I work, the $10k mark is not significant.

Originally Posted by SgtScott31 (Post 11003583)

If a couple of pills are rolled up in a baggie and/or artfully concealed, then yes, we are normally called.

Originally Posted by SgtScott31 (Post 11003583)

The $10k mark is misconstrued by TSA personnel. While the IRS may possibly tax amounts over $10k that leaves the US, since we have no outbound international flights where I work, the $10k mark is not significant.



It is left up to a federal judge when currency is confiscated. That is, if the person even wants to contest the seizure, which they rarely do. It's not there's to begin with. They're just the mule carrying it to buy the drugs.



Ask the DEA on the federal laws regarding money seizures. I'm sure they're out there if you do the appropriate searches. I detain the person for DEA and let them take over.



sp = reasonable "suspicion." This is how the law works nationally. With that said, I will reinforce KTW's post. Compared to the amount of people that come through the checkpoint with a significant amount of money, the numbers are small to those who have it confiscated versus those who don't. For those who have money confiscated, a simple conversation will easily tell the story. Like I said in my first post, these folks expect the money to be confiscated. And they will try again down the road if it is.



I never disagreed that TSA should pay specific attention to items that could be a threat to an aircraft, but to reverse the question, where do you think the line should be drawn? My opinion, if a TSO is doing a standard bag search and discovers contraband, whether a brick of cocaine or 1000 pictures of child pornography, I don't expect them to turn a blind eye to it (as some of you astoundingly do) and never will. If you were the parents of those children in the pictures, you may have a different viewpoint. These types of searches and discoveries have been going on since the inception of FAA rules about flying commercially. There will always be bag searches and searches of persons in order to gain entry to a commercial aircraft. If something else is discovered during this search, while not even a direct threat to the aircraft, it's going to be reported. I will never see this as any type of violation of Constitutional rights. Every person in this country knows what happens at security checkpoints at airports. Every person knows they have a right to use some other form of transportation if they want to carry something with them that is prohibited or illegal. It's a consensual search period. While some of the policies are unnecessary to say the least, I have yet to see anything that indicates "police states" are being created and checkpoints will pour out onto our streets. Outside the checkpoint, I still need reasonable suspicion to stop a vehicle or terry frisk a person; and I still need probable cause to search a vehicle or person and/or make an arrest. This has not changed.



I have never been called to the checkpoint about the Sun - Sat pill cases. We have a toll-free number to call for pill identification and/or appropriate books to identify pills. If a couple of pills are rolled up in a baggie and/or artfully concealed, then yes, we are normally called. People who have legal or prescribed pills do not hide them when coming through security. It is a call by call scenario, and it is pretty obvious who carries the Sun - Sat pills and who legitimately has any type of drugs. We are rarely called on these unless it is a blatant illegal drug (i.e. marijuana, white powder).



Question and answer. Believe it or not those that seize the money give the person every opportunity to prove that it is legitimate. Problem is, they can't.

Originally Posted by NY-FLA (Post 11003575)

Well, that and requiring that you show government issued Photo-ID to a government "officer" or agent in order to be permitted to travel domestically. :td:

Originally Posted by Boggie Dog (Post 11004440)

Being yanked out of a line and questioned by anyone, TSA or LEO, because I just happen to have some amount of cash is the makings of a "Police State".

Remember it is a TSA document that has determined that $10K is contraband. Not any other agency, just TSA.

So next week TSA in all it's great wisdom decides anyone who reads "Readers Digest" is a subversive.

I guess you'll be in there carrying water for the TSA since they must know what is going on.

Originally Posted by sbm12 (Post 11003757)

No. It is NOT taxed.

It is reported. That is all.

Originally Posted by Ari (Post 11003940)

Therein lies the problem. You are asking TSO to make a call they simply aren't trained to make. I keep a mini-bag of pills in my vest-- they look like they could have been bought on the street. Should I be forced endure an interrogation by LE and have to disclose my private medical information to a total stranger just because a TSO thinks he made the big catch?

Originally Posted by SgtScott31 (Post 11004678)

Being pulled aside from the screening process for the simple fact of having some money does not occur on every single person. Of those that are pulled aside, questions are asked by law enforcement and a judgment call is made very quickly.

As far as a TSA document. Like I said before, it's a TSA document just because it's TSA's responsibility now. Before it was a FAA document. I haven't seen anyone bashing them for it decades before TSA came along.