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Feb. 8, 2013
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Jewish World Review
Dec. 14, 2011
/ 18 Kislev, 5772
TSA might try trusting its own people
By
Dale McFeatters
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http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
It doesn't seem like a week goes by that there isn't some horror story about overzealous searches by Transportation Security Administration screeners at airport checkpoints.
Last spring, there was the video that went viral of a frightened little 6-year-old girl being subject to a thorough pat-down by a female screener.
A pregnant teenager was recently barred from a flight because her handbag had a decorative imprint of a handgun on it, clearly fake from the photos and positively fake once the screeners examined it.
And then there are the constant reports of 85-year-old women for some reason they all seem to be 85 who are forced to partially undress because they have a defibrillator, colostomy bag, back brace or bulging adult diaper.
The TSA denies that these are strip searches, and technically they're not in the sense of what inmates go through entering a maximum-security prison. But to these humiliated and perhaps terrified women, they are, in fact, strip searches.
The inevitable backlash took its time coming, but now it has started to arrive.
The House Transportation Committee, instrumental in the creation of TSA, has introduced a bill, called STRIP for Stop TSA's Reach-In Policy. The measure would ban screeners who have not received federal law-enforcement training from using the title "officer" and ban them from wearing uniforms that look like those of law-enforcement officers.
The proposed law seems petty only if a traveler hasn't been subjected to a super-officious TSA officer who feels entitled to throw a little weight around as a matter of emphasizing the screener's superior status. He can force you to miss your flight; you have little or no recourse.
The TSA has a standard bureaucratic defense: The screener was only "following rules and procedures." And the rules and procedures can't be elaborated on for reasons of "security." It is not being overly skeptical to believe that the stonewalling on the rules and procedures is because some of them are really stupid and would embarrass the agency if they became public.
Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., has proposed stationing special advocates at security checkpoints to immediately resolve passenger complaints about security screenings.
Maybe one day these advocates will be necessary, but it seems that a wiser, more effective course would be to empower TSA supervisors to make judgments on the spot. Presumably, they have a certain amount of experience and professionalism or they wouldn't be supervisors, at least one hopes that's the case.
And the agency's constant incantation of "rules and procedures" suggests that the supervisors' professional judgment has been superseded by agency red tape. It would bolster public confidence if the TSA showed some confidence in its own people.
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Previously:
• 12/12/11 That $1.2 billion? It's around here some place
• 12/09/11 State Department Creates Virtual Embassy For Iran
• 12/08/11 If you've ever tweeted, you're in the Library of Congress
• 12/07/11 Discoveries go to the core of what makes us humans
• 12/06/11 Stealing elections badly in Russia
• 12/05/11 Sometimes paranoia is common sense by another name
• 12/02/11 When the U.S. truly became one nation
• 12/01/11 Last chance to snap up a Maybach
• 11/30/11 Iran wants respect without earning it
• 11/29/11 Surprise! Spider-Man may weave a profitable web
• 11/28/11 Italians entertain novel proposition: Paying their taxes
• 11/25/11 No time to let up on al-Qaida
• 11/24/11 Congress Quietly Abolishing Friday
• 11/23/11 Cleaning up after supercommittee implosion
• 11/22/11 Jailing minors with adults adds to problems
• 11/21/11 Brilliant strategy? Action by inaction
• 11/18/11They're going to eat horses, aren't they?
• 11/17/11 A pretend stick shift for pretend drivers
• 11/16/11 Clinton's vast experiences: Did NBC pick the wrong Chelsea?
• 11/15/11 Occupy protesters, you've made your point. Now, scat
• 11/10/11 Our vets are a national problem?
• 11/09/11 Requiem for a once-great sport
• 11/08/11 A toilet as smart as its occupant
• 11/07/11 Prerevolutionary gems in need of TLC
• 11/04/11 Feds must stop scam of stealing from dead children
• 11/03/11 Bank listens very closely to customer lynch mob
• 11/01/11 TV that's leading the people away from core socialist values
• 10/31/11 NATO should not be a victim of its success
• 10/28/11 Iran mulls getting rid of president and presidency
• 10/27/11 Bienvenidos a Dayton and bring your businesses with you
• 10/26/11 Archivists long for Obama's teleprompter
• 10/25/11 United Nations to run the Internet?
• 10/24/11 Attention, world: You've got the cash. We've got the houses
• 10/19/11 Oil pipeline must be in America's future
• 10/18/11 U.S. plans limited mission in an Africa with no limits
• 10/17/11 Social Security's grave mistakes
• 10/12/11 NASA's help-wanted sign for astronauts
• 10/10/11 Saving Thomas Jefferson''s chimneys
• 10/06/11 Uncle Sam's answer to deadbeats --- robo-calls
• 10/04/11 Christie should ignore jibes on his weight
• 10/03/11 Iran says its warships will head for Jersey shore
• 09/29/11 Europeans bristle at Obama's lectures
• 09/28/11 Jessica Rabbit for the defense
• 09/27/11 Russia learns outcome of next March's presidential election
• 09/26/11 Another try at leaving no child behind
• 09/23/11 This generation needs a job more than a name
• 09/22/11 In the lane next to you: A driverless car
• 09/20/11 Cloudy, cool, chance of falling satellite
• 09/14/11 Humanitarian extortion
• 09/13/11 Paging Dr. Watson; he's there in 3 seconds
• 09/09/11 Forecasting 100 percent chance of heavy metal
• 09/08/11 A jobs program at Obama's doorstep
• 09/07/11 Iran's government afraid of the water
• 09/06/11 Congress returns, tanned, rested and testy
• 09/05/11 Space nations must clean up after themselves
• 09/02/11 Osama bin Laden died a failure and he knew it
• 09/01/11 Time to retire political pie in the face
• 08/31/11 Labor Day celebrates what, exactly?
• 08/30/11 These arrestees really are framed
• 08/25/11 When in an earthquake, block traffic
• 08/23/11 A case for discretion in deportation arrests
• 08/22/11 Tough times or not, parents shell out for school
• 08/18/11 Being unpleasant for fun, profit, promotion
• 08/17/11 Time to prepare for the end game in Libya
• 08/16/11: Super Committee starts facing reality
• 08/15/11: World's fastest plane disappears even faster
• 08/12/11: British cops track rioters through security cameras
• 08/11/11: Relax. There is no Death Star
• 08/10/11: House pages run final errands
• 08/09/11: U.S. treading water on job creation
• 08/08/11: Uncle Sam, the world's permanent guest
• 08/05/11: Most 9/11 victims not on federal death records
• 08/04/11: Russian PM calls U.S. a parasite. He should be so lucky
• 08/03/11: Congress goes from one bind to another
• 08/02/11: D.B. Cooper may no longer be a mystery
• 08/01/11: Libya's latest weapon against NATO --- lawsuits
• 07/29/11: He'll always be known as Hot Wheels Handler
• 07/25/11: Recruiting children to save a dying town
• 07/22/11: Bachmann's admirable medical candor
• 07/12/11: Social Security's grave mistakes
• 07/08/11: Debt crisis need not be constitutional crisis
• 07/07/11: Startups entice new talent with kickball, treehouses
• 07/05/11: Stranded tourists get rare treat
• 06/30/11: The dollar Americans refuse to spend
• 06/27/11: The hangman doesn't cometh
© 2011, SCRIPPS HOWARD NEWS SERVICE
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