I’ve passed through airport security many times, but have never been prevented from passing through or arrested. This does make one wonder about the specifics of what happens when something out of the ordinary is found.
Any jurisdiction or airport is applicable. I’m curious in general, not looking for advice for a specific trip or situation.
What happens, in a practical sense, when screeners find you with something that you are not allowed to have? Does it always result in an automatic arrest? Does it depend on whether or not the item that they caught you with is legal or illegal in a general sense? E.g. if they catch you with something you are allowed to have on the street the jurisdiction in which the airport lies but that just happens to not be permitted about an aircraft, they just turn you around and kick you back into the unsecured area, but if you have contraband then you can be arrested?
E.g.
Passenger: <goes through screening>
Screener at JFK: “Aha! A pistol! You can’t take this on the plane as a carry-on item.”
Passenger: “I have a permit for it.”
Screener at JFK: <scrutinizes permit> “This permit allows you to carry within the State of New York and so you are not committing a crime. However, I still cannot allow you on the plane like this. You can either leave the gun with me and continue on or you can exit the screening and come back later without the gun. Which will it be?”
versus
Passenger: <goes through screening>
Screener at JFK: “Aha! Heroin (or a sawed-off shotgun, or child pornography)! This is illegal here in NY! You’re under arrest! Keep your hands where I can see them!”
Are there any laws that make it illegal to attempt to pass through security with a forbidden item, or does it only become illegal if you actually take them on the plane and airport security is there to help you help yourself and get rid of stuff you didn’t know you weren’t allowed to have before you actually commit an offense by taking them on the plane?
I’ve had items taken from me, they include more than 3oz. of toothpaste, a small knife and a tiny baseball bat from the Louisville Slugger factory (I had planned to take over the airplane Punch and Judy style with the tiny bat). In all cases, they asked me if I wanted to go back to check them in, I said no and they just threw them in a bin.
For some forbidden items - such as firearms - even attempting to bring them on the plane is a crime. Example.
TSA is there to stop the prohibited item from getting on the plane, but my understanding is that if they catch you with something, they bring in local police officers to make the arrest and haul you off to jail.
Yep, they just confiscate street-legal items or ask if you want to mail it to yourself. I’ve had a Swiss army knife, a book of matches, and a big bottle of sunblock taken from me. I still got on the plane.
How do they handle evidence custody issues?
Say they find a small amount of what appears to be narcotics. By the time the real police arrive, a half a dozen TSA screeners have handled the evidence. Is this arrestable / convictable?
I do not understand the assumption that “half a dozen” screeners have handled the evidence. What are you basing this claim on?
Any competent agency will keep the evidence secured until law enforcement arrives to make the arrest. This usually means keeping it in a plastic bag and not letting non-security personnel mess with it. Evidence will have a “Chain of custody” form attached to it, basically a list of who was responsible for the evidence until it was passed to the next responsible party. They also have a bajillion security cameras and guards to testify that the item did in fact come out of your bag.
Now, if they failed to keep a chain of custody and let the employees play with the evidence like a bunch of two-year olds, then yes, the judge might throw the evidence out.
My buddy in the SCA accidentally packed a rather large dagger in the carry on, rather than the checked. They (TSA) allowed him to mail it back home, but they also wrote him a warning letter.
I worked at a airport security checkpoint for a summer many years ago. If a weapon turned up in xray we were instructed to stop the belt and leave it in the machine until airport police showed up.
We had a lady come through with an antique pistol in her suitcase. The police showed up, talked to her a bit and then sent her on her way. They took the pistol.
And then there are the people who think it’s fun to joke about having a bomb. They sober up pretty quickly when the police are called to the scene.
I’ve lost 3 pocketknives due to stupidity. In every case, the TSA people asked if I wanted to take them back to my car, try to mail them home or have them dispose of them. Due to time constraints (and stupidity) I’ve always had them dispose of them.
I once realized I was carrying a small pocketknife as I was approaching the security checkpoint - should’ve checked it with my suitcase. D’oh! Didn’t want to ditch it, so I went to a nearby gift shop, found the cheapest card I could, put my pocketknife in and mailed it to myself.
Well, I’m disgusted at what America’s coming to when we allow all those blood-sucking gangbanger thugs loose on the streets armed with tubes of toothpaste!
Of course, I’ve never witnessed or had it happen so let’s say the team of screeners can’t immediately identify the contents of the baggie or whatever. It is not leap of faith to imagine the first discoverer asking a coworker to come check this out and they call the supervisor who calls the next supervisor.
I don’t think the TSA is routinely trained in narcotic and other non-weapon identification or evidence handling whatsoever. I could be wrong here. Does your average airport checkpoint have the evidence bags described in inventory? Screeners are certainly not sworn law enforcement officers/police. This seems like it would fall on the local copper to make their own case. It seems as though the testimony of a TSA screener is akin to a city bus driver who calls police after he sees a bag of drugs fall from someone’s pocket. The police show up, the driver says those are yours, the user says no they’re not.
Years ago (pre 9/11) my intern was caught going through security with one of those tear gas pen things. For some reason the guards were not impressed by her protestations that her mother had given it to her for security in the big city. She was arrested, taken to the airport police office and questioned for a couple of hours. They confiscated the tear gas and released her but told her she’d be contacted to appear in court. Our boss had some friends in law enforcement, made a few calls and got the whole thing dropped.
That was pre-9/11 of course. I imagine they’d take it even more seriously these days.
i thought i had checked it, dumb me.