House lawmakers: Airport screeners ineffective, rud
March 26, 2012 at 10:38 am in Grand Forks Herald
Lawmakers at the joint hearing of two committees said Americans are treated like prisoners and cattle, protected by faulty equipment, patted down because of their disabilities and made to follow different rules at different times. Officials of the Transportation Security Administration told a hearing today they had made significant improvements and are moving away from a one-size-fits-all screening system.
Continue Reading
Airport screeners have morphed into bi-polar Barnie Fifes.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
18 
1
The current system is terrible. I am glad that my flights start at gfk at least I don’t have to go through that machine and the odds of a pat down are pretty low. I witnessed tsa pat down a disabled teenager in a wheelchair that would do no harm to anyone. It was absolutly disgusting abuse of power. I don’t see how these people can sleep at night.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
20 
1
I better mention that was at a different airport. In the tsa world you are guilty until proven innocent. Those are not the principles our country was founded on.
Well-loved. Like or Dislike:
18 
1
What blows my mind is gfk requires 6 tsa employees and 1 police officer to rub the air port for screening flights that when full only hold 50 people. Most of the time the police are either reading a book or have a conversation with a friend. Now the tsa has 5 people working the security check point plus 1 additional person sitting in a separate room looking at the picture of you when you walk through the security device. Break it down 1 person checking ids and tickets. Next person outside the security telling about things you can’t have. Third person looking at the X-ray of your stuff. 4th person waiting to hear from the 5th person in the separate room. Finally 6th person runs bins back to the front and goes through your stuff at the request of the X-ray person. Please there must be a better mouse trap
Like or Dislike:
14 
0
I’m FAR more frightened of the US Government than I ever was of “terrorists”.
The abuse of power within Homeland Security is distressingly common.
But then, Obama claims the right to have American citizens killed without trial or explanation. I’d say that was against the Constitution–but what President hasn’t used the Constitution for toilet paper?
Like or Dislike:
15 
3
I am not a racist, however, it bothers me how many Muslims have jobs as airport screeners. It’s very disturbing!
Like or Dislike:
13 
9
I’m curious….Do you assume that anyone who looks like they’re from the middle east is automatic Muslim? Even if they are Muslim….Do you think that makes them guilty by association by belonging to the same religion as some fundalmentalis do? Because there’s a number of really whack job Christians out there who I’m sure most law abiding Christians would be quick to point out have no bearing on the Christian population as a whole…….Muslims/Christians…Just two religious beliefs with no malice as a belief…….How the lunatic fringe behaves should not reflect on either as a whole. The quicker people get over that line of thinking the sooner each can work to clean up their own lunatic problems….
Like or Dislike:
11 
12
What I hate is that the procedure is different everytime I fly. Depending on which airport and what new regs they’ve done it’s nothing like the last time. The screeners generally aren’t too bad but they all act bored and like you are some sort of idiot if you haven’t seen the procedure they are using that day a 100,000 times like they have.
As far as I can tell it all started as a way to provide jobs and get he economy going. Study how Europe is doing it, they’ve been dealing with terrorists a lot longer than we have, and copy them.
The main thing is, I don’t think the screening actually would stop a well planned operation. They haven’t done well when news people have put suspicious objects through to test.
Let’s take the people in a wheelchair that they pat down. If it was a professional terrorist, he’d fill the frame of the chair with explosives, make it a pipe bomb. Do they check the chair? No, they want to see if the person has a knife in his Depends.
Like or Dislike:
10 
1
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2012/03/26/exclusive-the-stunning-jfk-airport-baggage-scandal-200-thefts-per-day/
Like or Dislike:
4 
3
Well let me put it this way, 10 years ago you had to look long and hard to find somebody that was outwardly Muslim. Nowadays they flaunt it in our faces, I think they do it on purpose to demonstrate they are there and we should somehow fear them. It’s very disturbing.
Like or Dislike:
11 
13
I am going to set the record for negative comments so here goes nothing. 10-15 years ago I did not see people shoving their religious views in my face and now it is everywhere. It has gotten to the point where they have gotten the Republicans, at the state and federal level, to make their religious beliefs into laws. Which group then is more dangerous, the American Taliban or the Afghanistan Taliban to the freedom of America?
Like or Dislike:
9 
8
The premise the TSA operates under is guilty until proven innocent.
Like or Dislike:
8 
0
I quit flying because of it. I will not tolerate having to prove im innocent when I’m not accused of anything. That police state attitude is not America. Unless there’s changes so people feel respected as free citizens once again I will never fly……Don’t get me wrong…I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a screening process, but from what I’ve heard time and again it seems to fall just short of Jack Boot Thug behavior towards the passengers and that’s uncalled for…
Like or Dislike:
7 
0
“The premise the TSA operates under is guilty until proven innocent.”
I hear this one all the time too, but it isn’t just a TSA thing. What happens if you attend a concert or sporting event? There are rules about what you can and cannot bring in to the venue. So how do they find out if anyone is bringing anything in?
Like or Dislike:
6 
0
I haven’t attended on in years…Are they that invasive? I can’t imagine them being able to do more than make people just open bags and purses for a look in without there being a huge blow back at games and concerts. Promorters wouldn’t want to push that very strong I’d think, but like I said…I haven’t been to either in many years…..I get home I’m not much for getting crammed in a crowd for some event.
Like or Dislike:
5 
0
While I certainly don’t “enjoy” the screening procedure(s), it’s always amazing to me how some folks react to such things. The “woe-is-me….look at what I have to put up with” attitude makes me wonder what some people would do if they were faced with something really difficult or inconvenient.
As far as ineffective or rude agents goes, I’m not defending ineffectiveness or rudeness either, BUT….next time you’re traveling, spend some time ALSO noticing what the other passengers are doing. There are signs everywhere along the “cattle gates” for passengers to zig-zag through on their way to the first agent. And yet once they get TO that agent’s podium, many seem genuinely surprised that they’ll need to have a photo ID ready. Once they get past THAT person, they’re (once again) genuinely surprised about what can and cannot be in their carry-on….despite having documents WITH THEM that clearly spell that out. (Does anyone read the stuff they get when they print their tickets and/or itinerary? Perhaps they should.) On a recent flight back from AZ, I was behind a person that had a super-size tube of toothpaste that wasn’t allowed in a carry-on. The options the person was presented with were to surrender the item, OR…fill out some paperwork and pay a fee to have the item shipped to their home. I patiently waited as this person held the rest of us up while weighing the pros and cons of losing the “investment” they made in the tube of toothpaste, and whether it was worthwhile to pay the fee to have it shipped. For most folks, such a decision takes a nanosecond to make, but this person stood there pondering the what-ifs until they were asked to stand aside so ANOTHER agent could deal with them totally one-on-one so that the rest of us to proceed.
I think the apparent over-staffing of agents and law enforcement at airports has AT LEAST as much to do with how stupid the general public can sometimes be as it does with anything else.
Like or Dislike:
13 
1
scott: They should have a separate section for intolerant travelers like you. Oh, they do. It’s called First Class.
Like or Dislike:
4 
11
Apparently you missed the part where I posted that I patiently waited as this person tried to make up their mind.
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
I didn’t see your use of the word patient, but should have sensed that from the rest of your comment. I just went through Ft. Myers airport. My I.D. had slid into my cell phone so I couldn’t find it. The lady was very patient. I moved aside and discovered it in the phone. I’m assuming the 80 people behind me were patiently watching my pathetic display. Here’s an interesting stat for everyone: The shuttle program that was just shut down had a $3 billion annual budget. Homeland security budget is 20 times that at almost $60 billion. I think we’re too safe…$55 billion too safe.
Like or Dislike:
0 
3
I don’t know if it’s true, but I heard on some travel show some time ago (Before they started charging so much for bags) that if you plan to stay at a motel it’s cheaper and faster to make arrangements to Fed-X your luggage where you’re staying and inform them so they’ll put it in your room once it arrives. Like I said…I have no idea what that would cost, but if you’re paying $25 per bag at the airport I’m guessing it’s probably less than that….
Like or Dislike:
3 
3
I wonder what the fictious classmate’s step aunt got fired for?
Like or Dislike:
3 
0
Scott, yes you are racist. This is the second thread I have called you out on it. Very intollerant and sterotyping of muslim americans.
Like or Dislike:
1 
4
Whoops that was todd I had the wrong name on my mind
Like or Dislike:
0 
3
sScott, it sounds to me that you have become accustome to being treated like a criminal when flying. I have no problem opening my bag and sending it through a x ray machine. I do not like taking my shoes, sweatshirt/coat off, and packing those tiny toothpaste and mouthwashes. I do not like the scanning machine. If they find something they don’t like in your luggage yes it is ok to further investigate, but to treat you like a fellon from the get go is not ok in my book. I do comply but it is because I have no choice.
Like or Dislike:
2 
2
As I said, I don’t “enjoy” the procedure, but it’s apparent that some folks aren’t really accustomed to having to “deal with” anything remotely difficult or inconvenient in their day-to-day lives. Next time you’re at the airport, watch the rolling eyes, the gasps and sighs that make it seem like what they’re being asked to do is beyond all reasonable comprehension. And then ask yourself, If “I” were one of the TSA agents, how would “I” respond after dealing with passengers like that all day long?
They don’t “make the rules”. Perhaps treating them or dealing with them a certain way should be done with that in mind.
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
That eye rolling and gsping is pretty small potatoes. My sister works behind a regestration desk for an airline in Seattle…..She’d have a great day if that’s all she got when something goes wrong with a flight…Generally it’s things that she and everyone else at the counter had absolutly nothing to do with and no control over what so ever….But she appears as a representative of the ariline so it’s all her fault….I could never do what she does because they tend to frown on employees getting right back in someone face when they’re being unreasonable……If the TSA didn’t have all that power….They too would think sighs and rolling eyes was absolutely nothing…
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
If I were a tsa agent I would be polite and would not make condesending gestures towards the public. Their job is to screen
Like or Dislike:
2 
0
Part of their job is public relations. Rude condesending power tripping flunkies are not the way to get the publics support for the current tsa procedures. It is a lot easier to win people over with a calm explanation than a rude gasp or rolling eyes.
Like or Dislike:
4 
0
“It is a lot easier to win people over with a calm explanation than a rude gasp or rolling eyes.”
My point exactly Ron, EXCEPT….the folks I was referring to as having the rolling eyes accompanied by the oh-so-obvious sighs and gasps of exasperation aren’t the agents. I was talking about the passengers. I can’t quite figure out what it is they expect to accomplish when they get to an agent that asks them to remove their shoes, (mind you this is AFTER passing several signs and placards preparing them for this monumental task), and then when it’s actually shoe removal time…..the eyes start-a-rolling, and the loud sighs start-a-coming.
Imagine if that actually “worked”. An *undesirable* wants to board a plane, and when it’s screening time…all he/she has to do to “outwit” whatever screening procedure is in place is to let out a heavy sigh, accompanied by an under-the-breath muttering of phrases like “Oh my god…..I cannot believe the indignities I’m being subjected to….”
Actually, apply that strategy to ANY situation and tell me how it works. Ever had to wait “too long” for your food at a restaurant? Did it “help” to sigh loudly to ensure everyone in the vicinity was aware of the amount of distress you were under? Ever been behind someone at the grocery store and noticed that they didn’t start to fill out their hand-written check until AFTER everything was totaled up and bagged? Did it “help” then to let the eyes roll?
I think this is just funny because a few posts up “I” was branded with the “intolerant” label. I tolerate stuff all day long. I’m used to it. Maybe that’s the key to recognizing how much of a “non-event” airport screening is.
Like or Dislike:
0 
0
Time to shut down the troll with a massive gang “Dislikes” on these boards….
Like or Dislike:
5 
0
This was in regards to some scheme the Herald has since removed and not to anyone here
Like or Dislike:
0 
0