Report: TSA employee misconduct up 26% in 3 years
cnn.com
cnn.com
I feel as if I can't walk through a security line without overhearing one of their staff berating some other traveler for offenses as minor as expressing a wish to walk through the X-Ray instead of the 3-d scanner, or for not taking their liquids out of a bag (a rule which is arbitrarily enforced at best).
I typically sympathize with positions and roles who are entrusted with security, and where success may be measured by a lone failure rather than otherwise sustained competency (much like a sysadmin). However, given what I perceive to be a pattern of escalating negative experiences this report does not surprise me in the slightest.
My wife, after being a stay-at-home mom for years, wanted to get a job while going to college part-time. She applied and was eventually offered a job by the TSA at DCA airport.
Upon looking at the hours, it was completely, utterly unworkable. Rather than a 40 hour a week job, they offered her 20 hours a week, which is reasonable, but get this: the 20 hour a week job had a schedule that completely changed week to week. This means that a person can't have ANY, and I mean ANY other responsibilities/jobs/schoolwork while working as an entry level TSA employee. She was told this was the standard in hiring new TSA workers. No wonder the lines are always staffed by people who, predominantly (with a few memorable exceptions), have a shitty work ethic, bad attitude towards customers, and poor problem solving skills.
In other words, the people who can't get/hold a job anywhere else end up at TSA.
Probably just about the only instance where having a gun can actually thwart a corrupt government official.
Tempted to start carrying an 80% lower, which is tech I ally not a firearm, to be even safer. Should still be able to get firearm service at the tsa for it.
There might be a market for cheap-as-hell injection molded lower receivers, not really good for any sort of shooting at all, to be sold to travelers so that they can be "technically" carrying a gun. It would be considered disposable so they could just crack it in two and throw it away at their destination (or perhaps have the shops that sell them also buy them back). I figure injection molded plastic would be sufficient, as plastic lowers have already been demonstrated.
It would only work to and from certain states of course. There are probably problems with selling and buying them back in airports, so disposal in some states may be a problem. If you are flying Kansas<->Vermont or similar it could probably be made to work though.
[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/10/nyregion/lawful-handguns-d...
Not true, their job is to make people feel safer in the wake of September 11, 2011 attacks
Its also a works program for the incompetent.
It would be an interesting experiment to staff a TSA gate with frequent fliers selected "jury pool" style (say, one day of service for every 100k miles flown annually), and see if both passenger and agent job ratings are any different.
I can't believe we have juries.
I'll remember to stare them in the face the next time a TSA agent touches my genitalia as a precursor to being allowed to board an aircraft.
Surely "pleasant" is too strong an adjective.
If you've never had a pat down, then it should not be surprising that they have never overstepped any boundaries during a pat down...
disclaimer: i do think the TSA is useless
Why is that hilarious? The simplest explanation is that they simply don't know; why do the people running the show get to be angry? Because they know something experienced travelers don't? Isn't informing people of the crazy rules part of the TSA's job? Maybe they should do it professionally?
The next simplest explanation is that the arbitrary security rules are unimportant to those travelers. Which makes sense, because they are unimportant. Again, I'm not sure what's funny or angering here.
come on now ....
1) There are videos and signs everywhere saying what is and is not allowed
2) TSA officers are verbally telling you what is and is not allowed
3) You need to walk through a metal detector, so figuring that out requires zero intelligence
4) If you cant get 1-3, watch the person ahead of you take off his/her shoes, watch, belt etc. and do the same thing.
In my experience, the people running the show (TSA) get angry when they tell the "inexperienced travelers" they are not following procedures, after which the traveler becomes rude.
It sounds like I am defending the TSA here, but that is not what I am trying to do. I am just saying that I can see how they could get frustrated with the public.
Nobody wants you in the way of their plane ticket. Everyone wants special exceptions because they are late. Loads of people (myself included) view you as an agent of tyranny, and visibly control themselves from snarling at you as you ask for Photo ID.
Get paid like you are working at McDonald's, deal with annoying people, and abuse administrative search everyday.
I too understand why the TSA workers could get frustrated. The very existance of the TSA is frustrating and creates frustrating situations. Anti-TSA folks are frustrated by the TSA, Pro-TSA folks are frustrated by the anti-TSA folks. It's a perfect circle of abuse.
Its a small gesture that has the potential to lower their job satisfaction. If it became a trend for passengers to do anything reasonably within their power to make the lives of TSA agents more uncomfortable, we could hopefully influence the TSAs retention rates.
It's a long shot, but in the individual case at least you get the momentary satisfaction of making them squirm. (And they do.)
Good luck with that. Most people at TSA would have quit if they could find a better job to work at.
It absolutely is a long shot of course. The personal satisfaction is sufficient though.
Acting like a dick to TSA employees just makes them treat you with even more contempt, thus the vicious cycle continues since they now have disdain for you as a customer.
Do you treat all car salesmen like crap, or people at the BMV, just because they have a general "bad" reputation?
Also do you object to a pat down when you go to a sporting event or concert? What about a courthouse?
You might as well tell me that your Ford Pinto never caught fire. What is your point?
Your post isn't even self-consistent. Right after you get done telling me that they are perfect gentlemen you tell me that they have disdain for me as a customer and that by making them feel uncomfortable as they grope me, I am making it worse? Huh? I thought they were perfect gentlemen...
If you are going to approach them out of the gate and treat them like shit, well guess what, expect to not be treated with a warm fuzzy. It's human nature.
Do you doubt that they grope others? Do you think we're making this up?
The assertion is not that the TSA has treated you, res0nat0r, like shit. Telling us that you have not been treated like shit is a refutation of approximately fuck all.
Currently its way more than 0 times. It can only be made lower if people push to make it lower, rather than your stance of "its never happened to me".
PS: all my interactions with the TSA have been fine. There was a moment at LAX when I had to explain why there would be liquid inside my juggling balls..... but we got through it.
"It's amazing the kind of shit people put up with in the US."
My problem is whenever we have any issues with our government here in the states, you see all of these comments from other countries about how we are such pussies and that it would never fly in their countries. Yet whenever those same countries follow in the USs steps or the US totally shits on another countries rights (grounding planes, imposing their own laws, etc...) all they can do is bitch and moan about it on the internet.
It doesn't make any of us pussies, the people wanted security, and they got security. We let these NSA/TSA beasts grow to such ridiculous sizes. Now if we don't like it, we have to start taking steps to defund/remove all of these privacy invading programs. And from what I have seen in the last couple years, it really seems like we are slowly starting to get somewhere. But maybe I'm wrong, maybe this is the beginning of the Brave New World.
Aside from that, it should be second nature for us as Americans to forego being offended at insults levied out of others' national pride, and instead move straight away into doing exactly what you've suggested.
The reason I consider us pussies isn't because we let the government fondle our privates, but because depending on the poll, more than half the population considers that to be just fine. While each of us as individuals might not be pussies, collectively, we tend to be.
And yes, obviously, I do sincerely hope that we are making progress, and I don't disagree that we are at least getting more people to give a damn. And yes, that is a good thing. But that we've had such draconian policies in place for so long, and been so content to let it be that way? There's the problem, exactly.
The sad thing is that in many airports you have the choice between putting yourself in a useless, but possibly carcinogenic x-ray device, or being groped. It's really infuriating that elevators are subject to stricter inspections than these backscatter machines are. Would anyone know if it was throwing out 1000x the usual dose of radiation? Probably not.
I've had it a dozen times. I opt-out of the naked scanner every time I fly. As you say, I've never been harassed by the gropers. And if everybody in line opted out, they'd be overwhelmed and forced to change their policies.
Just say No.
My last experience with a stadium was several years ago, 2006 or so. I managed to get a 6-pack through security by approaching security without it and having my back checked, then realizing I had to go to will-call (outside of security). On the way back in they recognized me and waved me through security with my ticket and "already checked" bag (now with beer). No idea how reproducible that is, and it was during a sports event instead of a concert (I think both probably contract the same venue security though?)
I make it a point to smile during my pat downs, ask if they'd like me to bend over, and shift my privates. When they invariably mention that they use the "back of their gloved hand". I ask if they wouldn't mind using the front of their hand - a shocking number of TSA agents are homophobic, and whilst straight, I play into that.
There's nothing I enjoy more than making agents of the security theatre uncomfortable. It brightens up the traveling experience.
Apparently they did hire 3,200 more people as well. Although it does look like the percent increase in misconduct is greater than the percent increase in employees, new employees are often more trouble at the start and hiring quickly often forces you to lower your standards.
I actually left a laptop in a stacked security tray a while back and the TSA called me asking about returning it the next day and kept it at their offices for me for the month it took me to get back from Asia for it. So there's definitely some good people manning the line as well. I didn't expect to get back something I made the mistake of forgetting.
It will take fundamental changes to reverse this.
The backscatter machines were replaced with millimeter wave scanners, which are far safer and less intrusive than x-rays.
There can't be very many master keys, and the payoff is so great for getting copies....
Be very careful that it is legal to carry/transport/own/etc that firearm at your destination!
For example, New York. Don't bring one there. (I appreciate the tips from other HNers in that regard, I had no idea.) I'm not sure exactly what it is that is illegal in NY, in fact -- is it specifically airport related, or is it general ownership/carry/transport?
And there's a big problem if there's any chance your plane will be diverted to "denied territory" as I like to call it: if the system doesn't put your bags in another plane but demands you take possession of them until you can get a flight or whatever, you're screwed if you have to continue by plane. When you go to the counter to check in again, and declare your gun(s), surprise! you aren't legally possessing them. I don't see much choice but to never take possession, or use some less searched method of ground or rail transportation to get back to the real USA while crossing your fingers.
Theoretically there is a federal protection for possessing an unloaded weapon locked in a case (with the ammunition in a separate locked case), provided that you are simply passing through a place where it would be illegal (e.g. flying from Seattle through NYC to Vermont, for instance) but the local respect for that protection may vary. New Jersey, for instance, completely ignores it (you will get arrested and charged, but that works as a defense to the charge).
As in, you won't get one without political pull. There are 50-60 thousand currently outstanding, in a city of 8 million. Long gun possession licenses are similarly restricted, or at least roughly as rare.
The Firearms Owner's Protection Act of '86 protections for interstate travel are pretty much written with car travel in mind, and you can't really observe all of them while carrying guns in luggage. And it was always an affirmative defense (something you could only bring up while at court), but indeed New Jersey was particularly obnoxious about it.
Of course, the baggage handlers in the airlines along with your fellow passengers at the baggage claim are not as well documented.
Why aren't TSA employees required to register as sex offenders?
Not saying that it does more good than harm, just stating the reason.
In a private enterprise the two sides are equal, if labor demands too much the business and shut its door and remove their capitol from the marketplace, alternatively if the business demands too much the union can take their labor out of the market (a strike) and the business will suffer. So they have some incentive to work together for a solution.
In public sector, there is no one representing the capital side of the equation. You can't just shut down or relocate the TSA because of union demands like you can close a business. We still have to fly, we still have to have police men on the streets and firemen responding to calls. The gvt can continue to spend recklessly and borrow to cover deficits. (See Detroit) while private sector business will eventually run out of money and both capital and labor will be reduced to 0. The union can spend a ton of money to get the people elected who will promise them the work-rules and benefits they want because the politician won't be around when the bills finally come due. Imagine if everyone in your company gave a few % of their salary to influence the hiring of your next CFO, or VP of HR and would only back candidates that would promise to increase pay. That is the power that the public sector unions have which leads to an imbalance in negotiations.
I don't know why you have such a hard time believing me on this....
Seriously, this will change your life if you are a frequent flyer. Just get it.
They need to streamline the passenger security checks so that you can keep your bag under observation and reduce the time the TSA has access to it, and reduce the TSA workforce so they can implement higher standards.