Daniel Rubin: Another case of TSA overkill

Daniel Rubin: Another case of TSA overkill

www.philly.com

Did you hear about the Camden cop whose disabled son wasn't allowed to pass through airport security unless he took off his leg braces?

The boy is developmentally delayed, one of the effects of being born 16 weeks prematurely. His ankles are malformed and his legs have low muscle tone. In March he was just starting to walk.

(visit the link for the full news article)

A four year old developmentally delayed boy who can't walk without leg braces is treated as a terrorist suspect. Oh wait, it wasn't him, he must have fit the profile for associates... yeah, his father is an active duty police officer.. Oh well.

My reason for being upset over this sort of event is not that a family was traumatized, especially the boy, that part is important but it is not the particular aspect of the case that concerns me. The problem is that this sort of bizarre conformance to perceived rules (the supervisor later said this should not have happened) seems to happen a lot.

My concern is that the failure of TSA employees to be able to determine another way to deal with the situation that did not involve pointless behaviour makes me wonder how good they are going to be at actually finding real bad guys to don't quite fit their rules.

Should security checks have been skipped for the family? No. But was this action actually something that preserved security? No. If TSA employees are not motivated enough to think their way out of this situation, then just how good are they at adapting to real terrorists who are trying to slip through. I think probably not too good.

www.philly.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

It goes to show you that TSA employees are about as sharp as a sack of wet mice.

I wasn't so much about the TSA as it is about a stupid employee at that air posrt.

I was going to post a video, but I was selected for testing of Youtube's new interface and it is frankly a pile of crap.

TSA Video

Another one... This time a 3 year old.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by DaMod]

After reading the article it sounds to me that the TSA agent discriminated against the disabled which is against federal law if I remember correctly. I can see the justification of wanting the kid to remove his leg braces but insisting he walk on his own without them is where a line was crossed. I think the father should get him a powerful lawyer and file a civic suit against the TSA screener involved. It might serve as a lessen to other out of control TSA screeners to exercise commonsense instead of godlike power trips.

Originally posted by Blueracer
I wasn't so much about the TSA as it is about a stupid employee at that air posrt.

That was exactly my point. How effective is all the money being spent by the TSA if the people who are supposed to be the front line security display this kind of behaviour? And not just once but over and over again.

I think it's not much of a stretch to say that it this kind of moronic behaviour results in thinking a 4 year old is a possible terror suspect that makes one wonder how much the converse is happening -- specifically, real terrorists could be waltzing through because the employees don't have a clue what they are doing.

The TSA is broken.

Just when I thought I could get throught the entire day without feeling like puking, Thanks. I'm informed and P'O' d,. I have a metal neck brace, just WTF would they make me do with that? take it off? LOL,
This exactly why I will never fly in a commerical airliner again, because I don;t want to go to jail for assaulting an $8/hr rent-a-thug.

Originally posted by Asktheanimals
Just when I thought I could get throught the entire day without feeling like puking, Thanks. I'm informed and P'O' d,. I have a metal neck brace, just WTF would they make me do with that? take it off? LOL,
This exactly why I will never fly in a commerical airliner again, because I don;t want to go to jail for assaulting an $8/hr rent-a-thug.

Yup, to be honest the TSA needs to be abolished and replaced with a less tyrannical organization. Either that or some serious crackdowns need to be made. I mean cmon, the US constitution is the law of the land in every location on US soil. They violate the law of the land to harass someone in a back brace or some 3 year old kid?

I would much prefer they would do their job and harrass Achmed Mobooboole instead of people in back braces, kids, and elderly folks.

[edit on 16-2-2010 by DaMod]

Your government tax dollars at work!
In addition to having no common sense, these TSA workers have IQ's approaching zero, from the negative side.
They can't catch a REAL terrorist, but they sure are protecting us from those 4 year old disabled children. Don't you all feel safe now that the world is a safer place after their courageous action?