I just read this article :eek:
http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20040220/5944418s.htm
oh yeah damn TSA fuckers
Umm… Those gals almost brought knives on a plane. They got fined $150 for it–an entirely reasonable amount, IMO.
They should pay it, stop bitching, and check their carry-on luggage more carefully in the future.
Well, I for one feel safer. Cause you know, those fines really would have hampered the 9/11 terrorists if they had been in place back then.
Terrorist: What? You want me to sneak a box cutter unto a plane, take out the crew with that box cutter and fly the plane into the side of one of the world Trade Centers for the glory of Allah? No why dude. If those TSA fuckers catch me with the box knife that’s a $150 fine.
Eh?
Having to deal with false alarms diverts resources from real threats. If the fines reduce false alarms, you very well could end up safer.
Holey jamoley. I’m just asking here: this was done without any kind of formal, written citation being issued at the time of the alleged infraction?
I hadn’t heard about this before, but I’m not entirely surprised. Sounds like just as local police departments are tempted to set speed traps as a revenue source, some TSA staff are tempted to stick it to unobservant passengers who just happen to have a proscribed item.
The potential for abuse here is absurdly high, given that someone may be charged with an infraction at a location distant enough to make it impossible to fight in a court proceeding. I do hope the people involved are making their voices heard, loudly, to their legislators about this.
I don’t know if they were cited at the time, or if they should have been (well, of course they should have been, but I don’t know whether the policy provides for it). I’m guessing no, because it appears the size of the fine depends on judgement rendered by persons who are not the screeners. You can find the guidelines on the TSA web page.
How does this divert resources from anything? “Ma’am, you can’t bring this knife on board. We’ll have to confiscate it. You’ll receive it when you arrive at your destination.” What sort of maleficient schemes are going to go undiscovered in the time it take to say that?
At this point, if given the choice between terrorists and the people providing our security, I’d take the terrorists.
It is my sincere hope, Miller, that you never, ever have an opportunity to learn just what a colossal asshole you are.
I didn’t mean that literally, obviously. Sorry if I offended.
You know, I can remember…remember a time in the distant past when airline employees themselves actually handed out knives to passengers aboard domestic flights. I was on dozens of such flights, and as I recall, not once did one of those passengers suddenly go berserk and begin stabbing all and sundry. Oh, well maybe I was misremembering, you know how old people get.
Anyhow, the list of guidelines seems reasonable enough on its own, but I still say that TSA staff not only can but will abuse their authority to impose fines. What self-respecting, publicly-supported agency wouldn’t push this source of extra revenue as far as they think they can get away with? Hardly anyone would fly halfway across the country to contest a 150-buck fine, so, sorry to be cynical but I think we can expect wholesale, enthusiastic application of the new guidelines over the next few months.
Hey manhattan, you aren’t a mod anymore?
Mojdeh Rohani was lucky she wasn’t detained or arrested.
I think it diverts resources because what happens is a little more complicated then that.
I once had a “near proscribed object experience.” I try to minimize the amount of stuff I take on–usually I just bring an empty briefcase-type bag with a couple newspapers and a book or something. I went through the checkpoint, but got stopped. They put my bag through three times, called several other nearby attendents (including security and a supervisor) over to examine it, etc. Meanwhile, no one behind me was getting through. It turned out to be a money clip I’d forgotten about. All together, the cost was maybe half a man hour, and it certainly took more time then it takes to utter the sentence you’ve quoted above.
In addition to the diverted attention, it also seems like many false alarms could be desensitizing. Plus, if there’s no penalty for trying to bring on a proscribed item, people might “forget” a whole lot more.
I think assessing relatively small fines against people who try to enter secured areas with weapons is sound policy.
Metacom: So, did you get a fine? It seems that your money clip caused just as much a false alarm as Mrs. Rohani’s cake server. If the wasted time is what’s important, then your infraction is just as serious as any of those cited in the OP, is it not?
You do know that a cake server is essentially a knife, right? Big, flat, pointy, sharpened on one edge?
No, I didn’t get a fine, and no, it wouldn’t have been reasonable for me to receive one: I didn’t break any laws. It’s perfectly legal to bring a money clip on the plane. I shouldn’t be punished for doing something that’s legal. The people who tried to enter the secured area with knives should be punished because they did something that was illegal. To summarize: Get caught breaking a law, get punished. Get caught doing something legal, don’t get punished.
I rather think the point of the thread is, does this law make any sense? How does it make anyone safer to fine someone $150 for making a perfectly innocent mistake that harms no one? You’ve argued that the harm comes from wasted time and reduced alertness from false alarms, but you yourself caused a false alarm that wasted time and reduced alertness, so shouldn’t you be held just as liable for your money clip?
Actually, you’d have a hard time cutting cold butter with a cake server. It is NOT sharpened. Cake doesn’t usually require a sharp instrument. A plastic knife can do the trick.
And the point is rounded.
Yeah, whatever.
Like this cakeserver. And the ones listed on this page. Oh, and these here. Hmm, oh, there’s also these.
You know, looking at those cake server, I see an awful lot of sharp edges and points… :rolleyes:
I doubt that. More likely, you’re sorry you were called out on it. :wally:
Eat shit, milroy.
No.
This isn’t very complicated.
It is illegal for a civilian to bring a knife on to a plane. It is the job of the TSA to detect civilians who bring knives on to planes. If the TSA catches someone bringing a knife on to a plane, and that person didn’t mean to bring a weapon on to a plane, then that person wasted the TSA’s time because that person broke the law unintentionally, and they were diverted from examining the luggage of potential terrorists.
I didn’t break the law. I didn’t waste the TSA’s time. The TSA wasted its own time by getting alarmed over a common object–a money clip. I didn’t break a law, therefore I should not be held liable. I only offered that anecdote as evidence that false alarms cost more time then it takes to utter a single brief sentence.