I'm suppose to fly up for my daughter's wedding, and just when I thought it was safe to fly .....
We have always had a critical eye on the
technology used by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at
our nation’s airports. We’re all for catching terrorists and stopping
the bad guys from sneaking weapons on planes, of course. But at the same
time, TSA scans make us highly vulnerable – especially the now-discontinued full naked body scans that exposed everything to a complete stranger. Any organization that uses technology to encroach on the privacy of U.S. citizens needs to hold itself to a high standard.
Unfortunately, the TSA screws up more often than we'd like,
violating that sacred trust. In its most recent incident, the agency
announced the firing of two screeners for improperly groping attractive
male passengers that passed through a checkpoint at Denver International
Airport, the Denver Post reported Tuesday.
In the scheme, a male screener would give a female screener a signal
when he found a traveler to be attractive. The female screener would
then press a button on a terminal to tell the scanning machine that the
traveler was female. The automated scan would then detect an anomaly in
the traveler’s genital region, prompting the male screener to initiate
an illegal pat down and groping. This happened at least 10 times before a
TSA investigator witnessed it firsthand on February 9 of this year,
prompting the firing.
The TSA has issued a statement on the incident. It said: “The alleged
acts are egregious and intolerable. TSA has removed the two officers
from the agency. All allegations of misconduct are thoroughly
investigated by the agency. And when substantiated, employees are held
accountable.”
A TSA agent contacted the Denver police department’s sex crimes
division about the incident. But because a specific victim could not be
identified, prosecutors declined to file charges. Still, the case is
under continued review, and other, non-sex related charges could be
filed soon. “It’s possible that some other charge may be appropriate,”
said Lynn Kimbrough, spokeswoman for the Denver district attorney.
If you’ve suffered misconduct at the hands of a TSA agent, it’s
important that you contact the agency with your complaint to get justice
and help protect other travelers. Those who feel their civil rights
have been violated are encouraged to file a report with the TSA’s Office
of Civil Rights and Liberties. You can access an online complaint form
and learn more about the complaint resolution process by
visiting the TSA website.