Alaska Bill Would Criminalize Invasive TSA Pat Downs

[Robodoon]

Alaska Bill Would Criminalize Invasive TSA Pat Downs
Rep. Sharon Cissna’s legislation would also ban body scanners that produce naked images

A bill introduced by Alaska lawmaker and TSA grope victim Rep. Sharon Cissna would criminalize both invasive pat downs and body scans that produce naked images conducted by the federal agency, setting the stage for another states’ rights battle with the government.

When Texas lawmakers tried to pass a similar law last year, the federal government threatened to enforce a no fly zone over the lone star state, and the measure was eventually defeated after a lengthy legislative struggle.

Cissna was barred from flying by the TSA after an incident at SEA-TAC International Airport last year during which she refused to undergo an intrusive pat down after she had already passed through a naked body scanner. The scan results showed scars from her breast cancer surgery, prompting TSA officials to insist she underwent secondary screening.

“Facing the agent I began to remember what my husband and I’d decided after the previous intensive physical search. That I never had to submit to that horror again!” she said. “It would be difficult, we agreed, but I had the choice to say no, this twisted policy did not have to be the price of flying to Juneau.”

The bill introduced by Cissna, HB 262, states;


A person commits the offense of interference with access to public buildings or transportation facilities if the person, as a condition for access to a public building or transportation facility, requires another person to consent or otherwise submit to

(1) physical contact by any person touching directly or through clothing the genitals, buttocks, or female breast of the person seeking access; or

(2) any electronic process that produces an electronic image of the genitals, anus, or female breast or otherwise creates an electronic image of the person seeking access that exposes or reveals a physical characteristic that is normally hidden by clothing and is not normally visible to the public.

Cissna’s legislation goes further than the Texas bill in that it bans body scanners that produce naked images. The abuse of such technology was in the news again this week after the TSA forced a woman to go through a body scanner three times at DFW International Airport so TSA screeners in a back room could get a “good look” at her “cute” figure.

Continued

Comment: Good for them I hope they get it passed and thumb their nose at the Police State being issued via DHS and TSA

 

[waltky]

What a bunch of idiots...

TSA screeners slacking off, report finds
Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Transportation Security Administration screeners routinely failed to check bags for explosives at Honolulu International Airport, a government report said.

The report, issued by the inspector general of the Department of Homeland Security, found "a lack of effective and consistent supervision of TSA screeners by their managers, as well as inconsistent adherence to operating procedures." ABC News said screeners routinely opened bags and inserted TSA luggage screening notifications without actually looking through the bags, and then allowed them to be loaded onto flights carrying hundreds of passengers to destinations all over Asia and the Americas.

ABC noted the instances in which luggage screeners stole items from passengers' bags. Pythias Brown, a former TSA screener who was sentenced to three years in prison, estimated he'd stolen $800,000 in cash and other items while employed as a luggage screener before he was caught.

Brown said the practice was commonplace. "It was very convenient to steal," he told ABC. "[TSA agents] didn't think it was OK, but they did it and said, 'I don't care. They ain't paying me. They're treating me wrong.' But when people started seeing they could profit off of it, then it became massive."

TSA refuted Brown's claim, saying fewer than .05 percent of its screeners have been caught stealing and criminally charged. The agency said it took "personnel action" against screeners accused of mishandling luggage inspections.

Read more: TSA screeners slacking off, report finds - UPI.com

See also:

Dying woman gets security pat-down at Sea-Tac
Tuesday, October 9, 2012 - TSA agents to woman dying of leukemia: we'll need you to pull up the bandages holding your feeding tubes and open one of those bags of fluid they're pumping into you

A dying woman says a a security pat-down at Sea-Tac Airport left her embarrassed in front of crowds of people. Michelle Dunaj says screeners checked under bandages from recent surgeries and refused to give her a private search when she requested one. Dunaj, who is dying of leukemia, carried a large amount of prescription drugs through Sea-Tac to head to Hawaii for what would be one of the last trips of her life. She called Alaska Airlines ahead of time to request a wheelchair and to ask how her medicines should be separated for the security line. "I did everything they asked me to do, so I didn't think it would be an issue," she said.

But Dunaj says nothing went right at the security checkpoint. A machine couldn't get a reading on her saline bags, so a TSA agent forced one open, contaminating the fluid she needs to survive. She says agents also made her lift up her shirt and pull back the bandages holding feeding tubes in place. Dunaj needs those tubes because of organ failure.

With other passengers staring, Dunaj says she asked for privacy and was turned down. "They just said that it was fine; the location we were at was fine," she said. TSA spokesperson Ann Davis said "Officers are trained to perform pat downs in a dignified manner and, at any point, passengers can request a private screening with a witness present."

However, Dunaj says her request for a private screening was denied, and she does not want others with special needs to run into the same problem. "When somebody wants to take a trip, especially what I call an 'end-of-life trip' because you want to see your family and friends, then it becomes more important than just taking a trip," she said. Davis said it is against policy for passengers to be denied privacy if they ask for it. The agency is responding to a request by KOMO News to look into the incident.

Read more: Dying woman gets security pat-down at Sea-Tac - seattlepi.com

 

[JakeStarkey]

All Alaska will get is its own LEO put federal custody.

 

[Dissent]

GOOD! Now lets see every state do this.

 

[flacaltenn]

We need to see the Feds impose a "no-fly zone" over Texas or any other state to teach them a lesson about resisting the TSA excesses.. I'd love to see that show-down.. Go Alaska -- show them Texans how it's done...

 

[Dissent]

Sarcasm?

 

[OKTexas]

I refuse to fly because of the gestapo tactics, we still have the 4th Amendment, last I heard.

 

[tinydancer]

I'm trying to figure out this thread.

I'm rocking with the Stones. So this isn't going to far.

 

[Jarlaxle]

I also refuse to fly because of the security theatre...I'd rather hitch-hike.

 

[tinydancer]

I refuse to fly because of the gestapo tactics, we still have the 4th Amendment, last I heard.

They don't want you to fly. Don't you get it?

 

[tinydancer]

I refuse to fly because of the gestapo tactics, we still have the 4th Amendment, last I heard.

Thats the point they don't want you to fly.

 

[OKTexas]

I refuse to fly because of the gestapo tactics, we still have the 4th Amendment, last I heard.

They don't want you to fly. Don't you get it?

I would bet I have and have had much higher security clearances than any of the screeners. I refuse to give up my constitutional rights to enter in commerce. Screw'em !

 

[waltky]

Cancer Patient: TSA Humiliated Me...

Leukemia patient says she was embarrassed by security pat-down; TSA says procedures followed
Oct 10, 2012 - She hopes agency changes procedures for sick travelers

A Michigan woman dying of leukemia says she hopes her embarrassment during a Seattle airport security pat-down might change the way the Transportation Security Administration treats travelers with medical conditions. A TSA spokeswoman said late Tuesday, however, that the agency had reviewed video from the security checkpoint where Michelle Dunaj was screened for weapons and determined that the agency's procedures were followed. Dunaj, 34, was making what she expects will be the last trip of her life on Oct. 2 as she traveled through Seattle en route to Hawaii.

The Roseville, Mich., woman thought she had prepared by calling the airline ahead of time, asking for a wheelchair, carrying documentation for her feeding tubes and making sure she had prescriptions for all her medications, including five bags of saline solution. But Dunaj said she received a full pat-down in the security line at Seattle-Tacoma Airport and had to lift her shirt and pull back bandages so agents could get a good look. She said everyone else in line got a look, too. "My issue is: It was in front of everyone, and everyone was looking at me like I was a criminal or like I was doing something wrong," Dunaj told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "It shouldn't have been in front of everyone."

Dunaj said a female agent performed the pat-down and asked her to lift up her shirt after feeling the tubes going into Dunaj's chest and abdomen. Dunaj said her suggestion for a more private pat-down was dismissed. "I asked them if they thought that was an appropriate location, and they told me that everything was fine," she said. She said another agent punctured one of the saline bags she was carrying, ruining it. "I didn't want to start getting upset and swearing and causing more of a scene or issue," Dunaj said. "But it definitely wasn't handled properly."

TSA said in a statement, "At no point did a TSA officer open the passenger's medically necessary liquids and the passenger was never asked to remove or pull off any bandages." The agency also said "at any point, any passenger can request private screening with a witness present." Asked to comment on Dunaj's statement that she had asked for a more private pat-down, TSA Northwest Region spokeswoman Lorie Dankers said, "I cannot address that" and added that the "statement stands on its own." "We have determined that our screening procedures were followed," she said late Tuesday.
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