Bag check guard opened wallet

[cobright]

There was nobody behind me so him showing some courtesy and asking me to please open the wallet wouldn't have slowed anyone up. And since when do they seem to care about how quickly they get people through security? Quite the opposite when I go through.

Security searches don't identify threats by searching bags or wallets. They do it by searching people. That guy could have asked you to open your wallet for him. I've been asked to do so for my photographer vest pockets most times.

But he didn't so much care what was on the wallet as how you would respond to him opening it. I promise you this, either that gaurd or another one not far away, probably wearing dark glasses, was staring at your face during much of that search.

If you really want to skip the search, be having an argument with your wife about her redneck parents when you reach the security guy. Hand him your bag, roll your eyes to your wife then do something awful like apologize to the gaurdians for your spouse. OMG they'll put you through quick.

 

[MooksterL1]

After you have been to a few sports venues, you will discover this is not unusual at all. At an Orlando Magic game, the security guard completely took apart a tiny flashlight that I carry. It did not look like a weapon. And at a Saint Louis Rams game they physically patted down every adult. Every single one. The women had the option of a female officer. All security was very thorough, even lifting everyone's shirt to check waistbands.

 

[Srbright]

You are not supposed to think or ask questions. It's unAmerican. Just quietly do as you are told and go along with the charade.

Say that to the government, not a private company

Stacy

 

[dominiondad]

Next time keep a poopy diaper in your bag and let him open it...that'll teach him a lesson?

Seriously? You consent to a search when you enter the property and he's a security guard making $13/hr and you want to "teach him a lesson" by intentionally exposing him to human waste? That could even be considered assault in some jurisdictions.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

Seriously? You consent to a search when you enter the property and he's a security guard making $13/hr and you want to "teach him a lesson" by intentionally exposing him to human waste? That could even be considered assault in some jurisdictions.

I am pretty sure EagleG17 was being sarcastic about the poopy diaper...because it's as ridiculous as being upset about your wallet being searched during a security search that you agreed to before they searched you.

 

[HarleenQ]

You are not supposed to think or ask questions. It's unAmerican. Just quietly do as you are told and go along with the charade.

Of course people can ask questions - but do we have to ask asinine ones?

I mean really, now the security guards are going to memorize card numbers in the 3 seconds they look in your wallet? Come on. You can't make that a serious concern unless you're concerned with every individual that handles your card daily. At the point that that becomes a serious question it's just too ridiculous to take seriously.

 

[mjr0483]

So to recap, on a 10 day trip with a morning and afternoon visit. I went through security 20 times and only 1 time in 20 did a security guard feel that my wallet could potentially contain a security threat. And not once did any of my refillable mugs, popcorn bucket with lid on and very large, nor zippered sun glass case, nor zippered case I use for spare batteries and cables, ever get opened. I also on several occasions carried 4 ponchos that are 4 times the size of my wallet that inside zippered pouches every get opened. Some on this thread made suggestions that I should empty my back pack and open all these items for the check. Is this the general consensus or just unzip the bag and let the guard determine what item in my bag should require further inspection?

Also a side note, at the international gateway they are sending everyone older then 14 through the metal detectors. So there are 3 stops before you get into the park, bag check, metal detectors, then tickets.

 

[Princesca]

But he didn't so much care what was on the wallet as how you would respond to him opening it. I promise you this, either that gaurd or another one not far away, probably wearing dark glasses, was staring at your face during much of that search.

This is a good point that I hadn't thought about. I imagine that a lot of people intending harm would get twitchy at that point.

 

[keishashadow]

I am fond of Vera Bradley zippered wallets that are cross body type, amazing what you can stuff into something less than 6 X 4 X 2 inches. Tons of zippers, hands free but found they take some time to be checked @ Disney security even before the recent changes. Now use a small mini hipster with far less zippers/compartments or just go with a zippered lanyard and shorts with pockets. Easy to see what's inside both types and the CC numbers/my $ aren't visible.

Realize it's easy to tell people to pack light, admit I had forgotten how much gear you need to haul with young kids in a stroller. Still, it's surprising to see the amount of gear people lug into a day park.

Glad I'm not relying on a party ticket to enter MK on our MNSSHP day. Do think if people 'overdress' and carry in their costumes, the security line would go quicker.

 

[Aflyingbuttress]

So to recap, on a 10 day trip with a morning and afternoon visit. I went through security 20 times and only 1 time in 20 did a security guard feel that my wallet could potentially contain a security threat. And not once did any of my refillable mugs, popcorn bucket with lid on and very large, nor zippered sun glass case, nor zippered case I use for spare batteries and cables, ever get opened. I also on several occasions carried 4 ponchos that are 4 times the size of my wallet that inside zippered pouches every get opened. Some on this thread made suggestions that I should empty my back pack and open all these items for the check. Is this the general consensus or just unzip the bag and let the guard determine what item in my bag should require further inspection?

Also a side note, at the international gateway they are sending everyone older then 14 through the metal detectors. So there are 3 stops before you get into the park, bag check, metal detectors, then tickets.

So, are you asking how to get them to search you more thoroughly? And is going through the metal detectors at the international gateway, making it 3 stops to get into the park, a good thing or a bad thing in your perspective?

Not trying to be argumentative. Genuinely trying to figure out what you're hoping for.

 

[cobright]

This is a good point that I hadn't thought about. I imagine that a lot of people intending harm would get twitchy at that point.

An earlier poster referred to checkpoints like this as "security theater", seemingly, to disparage them as useless. In a sense the assessment is both right and wrong. They are very much "theater", but that is by design. A better description is that the checkpoints are an exercise in social engineering. They passively create the pressure that results in the desired outcome.

If someone were a professional killer or a high-functioning psychopath, I have no doubt they could get a weapon through security. The desired outcome in not finding every weapon that someone might be attempting to bring into the parks. That would be a fools errand indeed. No security checkpoint system will ever eliminate the chance of someone bringing a weapon onto the property. All security measures can ever do is influence the odds of a tragic event happening. They do that by searching for shooters and bombers, not guns and bombs. On a technical point, I bought a credit card pocket-knife multi-tool in the rain forest cafe gift shop and carried in into every park without thinking much on the matter at all and without the least bit of scrutiny given to it in my possession. Point is, I wasn't what they were looking for. Think about it, if you had a weapon and the intent to use it inside the parks ... would you even be in the bag check line?

I would bet my best sneakers that 95% of the weapons these searches do find are forgotten pocket knives and people with CCWs that somehow forgot they left their gun in their purse or backpack. That sounds ridiculous but the number of people who do just that and try to board airplanes is actually quite disturbing. A couple states have actually recently passed laws making accidentally trying to bring a gun on a plan ... wait for it ... NOT a crime. Too many simple mistakes were happening and good honest gun toting folks were getting arrested just cause they forgot they were carrying guns in an airport. I'll leave the politics of all that alone, though I find it at once both ludicrous and appalling. Circling back to my point ... most of the weapons the bag check finds never pose a security risk at all beyond the slim possibility that they might be misplaced within the park and cause mischief accidentally.

Whenever a checkpoint is organized this way, the primary function is to bottleneck the flow of people so someone can observe the crowd. Sometimes the guy riffling through your stuff is gauging your body language, sometimes its the guy behind you a ways or the uniformed cop or the security supervisor. If anyone would like to test my premise thinking that the "rent-a-cop is useless window dressing, I can tell you a couple of behaviors that will get you set aside for scrutiny every time. Try it in line, as inconspicuously as you can, they will notice. Some are the kind of things you might do inadvertently and then you get surprised when the guard opens your wallet all of a sudden. A good one is to stand around outside the line watching the actual bag check go on for a while before getting in line (scouting). Another is to get in and out of line several times (timing entry, coordinating with others, scouting). Keep your sunglasses on (this is a soft tell, something that might tip the scales towards a more thorough search). Check time often on a wrist watch, not use a cell phone at all for this.

 

[cobright]

So to recap, on a 10 day trip with a morning and afternoon visit. I went through security 20 times and only 1 time in 20 did a security guard feel that my wallet could potentially contain a security threat.

So out of twenty trips through security, during most of which you were bringing through a figurative cornucopia of items that could be searched, you had your wallet opened one time? I don't mean to be obtuse or pedantic here, I'm just really having a hard time wrapping my head around your complaint. 5% of your bag check experience included a more than perfunctory glance at your belongings before sending you on your way. There is a sense of surprise in your telling of the inspection, like opening your wallet is something you had not expected. So I have to ask what you did expect him to do with it when you gave it to him? I generally keep my wallet in my pocket. If I hand it to a security guard at a bag check station I don't imagine he would content himself with observing only the calfskin exterior.

[...] Some on this thread made suggestions that I should empty my back pack and open all these items for the check. Is this the general consensus or just unzip the bag and let the guard determine what item in my bag should require further inspection?

About the time you reach his table, the guard has decided how long he wants to spend on you and what he will do to fill the time. Anything you do beyond following directions can only lengthen the time it takes to process you.

 

[mjr0483]

With the international gateway I was just stating the current situation and didn't offer my opinion on the matter.

With the wallet situation, I had previously stated that I had spoken to a manager and his excuse was that security guards are instructed to open every zipper. And this clearly isn't reality, just an excuse why some random guard randomly decided that he needed to open my wallet with my cash and credit cards. In my update post, I stated I went through security 20 times on this trip and only 1 zipper inside my backpack was open. On multiple occasions there was 7 zippered items in my back pack and only 1 was opened a single time out of 20. I could go through security 20 more times with the same scenario and how many more times will this wallet get opened? If this was such a high security target that it got opened once, why would it not get opened on more then one occasion?

My only complaint is that this guard should have taken the extra 3 seconds to ask me to open the wallet, which would make all the posters here who say that security is there to slow you down so the "real" security can happen happy.

 

[BrianL]

If someone were a professional killer or a high-functioning psychopath, I have no doubt they could get a weapon through security. The desired outcome in not finding every weapon that someone might be attempting to bring into the parks. That would be a fools errand indeed. No security checkpoint system will ever eliminate the chance of someone bringing a weapon onto the property. All security measures can ever do is influence the odds of a tragic event happening. They do that by searching for shooters and bombers, not guns and bombs. On a technical point, I bought a credit card pocket-knife multi-tool in the rain forest cafe gift shop and carried in into every park without thinking much on the matter at all and without the least bit of scrutiny given to it in my possession. Point is, I wasn't what they were looking for. Think about it, if you had a weapon and the intent to use it inside the parks ... would you even be in the bag check line?

This is exactly right. It's not guns an knives that are the real problem, but rather people with the intent to use them. That's not to say I want guns in the parks, but your average citizen who forgot they had a knife on them (I don't know how people forget a gun, but they do) is not a threat to my safety in a park. The guards catch the people they need to catch mostly through observation and body language, not metal detectors. The security theater is indeed designed to slow down the crowd and to gauge people's reaction to it.

 

[smiths02]

I would bet my best sneakers that 95% of the weapons these searches do find are forgotten pocket knives and people with CCWs that somehow forgot they left their gun in their purse or backpack. That sounds ridiculous but the number of people who do just that and try to board airplanes is actually quite disturbing. A couple states have actually recently passed laws making accidentally trying to bring a gun on a plan ... wait for it ... NOT a crime. Too many simple mistakes were happening and good honest gun toting folks were getting arrested just cause they forgot they were carrying guns in an airport. I'll leave the politics of all that alone, though I find it at once both ludicrous and appalling. Circling back to my point ... most of the weapons the bag check finds never pose a security risk at all beyond the slim possibility that they might be misplaced within the park and cause mischief accidentally.

Some of them aren't just CCW or "forgetting." DH is in law enforcement, and he has had many friends report that they were were asked about their weapons. The rights of law enforcement to carry are much broader than standard CCW. DH, for instance, carries into federal court, etc. DH and I know that WDW has no guns policy for anyone, but many of his coworkers who are used to carrying literally everywhere don't know that.

 

[TheDisneyNurse]

Eh, they're just doing their job. It's not personal. Often (because I have the worst luck in the world) I carry around a little zippered bag to hold feminine products, and I always get a kick out of their embarassment when they unzip it and see whats inside. Men

 

[MakiraMarlena]

heck, if it's a male security guard just put some tampons in your bag. They'll just glance in and that will be it.

 

[cobright]

I went through security 20 times on this trip and only 1 zipper inside my backpack was open. On multiple occasions there was 7 zippered items in my back pack and only 1 was opened a single time out of 20. I could go through security 20 more times with the same scenario and how many more times will this wallet get opened?

The wallet was chosen because it was the most personal item at hand, the one most likely to provoke a response; nobody thought you had a weapon in it. Go through another 20 times and you might get a similar search 0 to 20 times.

If this was such a high security target that it got opened once, why would it not get opened on more then one occasion?

Perhaps you had a nervous expression on your face that one time when the gaurdians looked you up, or he mispercieved a behavioral cue and decided better safe than sorry. Perhaps the spotter wanted more time to watch somebody behind you so the search needed to kill a little more time than it otherwise would have.

My complaint is that this guard should have taken the extra 3 seconds to ask me to open the wallet

Again, you had already given him the wallet. This isn't even like he made a point of you turning out your pockets or anything. He already had the wallet. It would be a very clumsy exchange, what you're suggesting. You give him the wallet, then he gives it back just so he can ask you to give it to him again to search.

Some of them aren't just CCW or "forgetting." DH is in law enforcement, and he has had many friends report that they were were asked about their weapons. The rights of law enforcement to carry are much broader than standard CCW.

I get that. I was speaking very broadly, just pointing out that most of the weapons they do find do not represent actual attempts to cause mischief in the parks.

Often (because I have the worst luck in the world) I carry around a little zippered bag to hold feminine products, and I always get a kick out of their embarassment when they unzip it and see whats inside. Men

My first aid kit includes a half dozen fem. napkins. Gotten a few puzzled looks till the search went a little deeper.

 

[Dismama2boys]

The wallet was chosen because it was the most personal item at hand, the one most likely to provoke a response; nobody thought you had a weapon in it. Go through another 20 times and you might get a similar search 0 to 20 times.


Perhaps you had a nervous expression on your face that one time when the gaurdians looked you up, or he mispercieved a behavioral cue and decided better safe than sorry. Perhaps the spotter wanted more time to watch somebody behind you so the search needed to kill a little more time than it otherwise would have.


Again, you had already given him the wallet. This isn't even like he made a point of you turning out your pockets or anything. He already had the wallet. It would be a very clumsy exchange, what you're suggesting. You give him the wallet, then he gives it back just so he can ask you to give it to him again to search.


I get that. I was speaking very broadly, just pointing out that most of the weapons they do find do not represent actual attempts to cause mischief in the parks.




My first aid kit includes a half dozen fem. napkins. Gotten a few puzzled looks till the search went a little deeper.

I appreciate all of your well-thought-out responses. Thank you.

 

[Kaytie]

Security is not supposed to just open the zippers, of anything, they do ask people before reaching the bag check, via boards explaining the process, and sometimes CM telling people to take your bags off of your bodies/strollers and open all zippers, pockets and containers. I see a lot of people that don't do this, they still have their purses and backpacks on them when they reach the security person, and then it takes longer to take it off and open all the pockets and zippers. I believe this was a case of a security person being to tired or lazy to ask the poster to open their own wallet.
I would just want to point out that at Universal they have the conveyor belt where you place your bags, it goes through the camera system where a team member monitors it's content and you pick it up on the other side, at Universal they also have about double and sometimes triple the metal detectors and bag checking mechanisms, it's way more eficent that Disney

Then people don't comply, and a guard opts to open a zipper on his own.

Those security guards could have stayed at a Holiday Inn the night before.

Holiday Inn Express A plain old Holiday Inn doesn't have the same effect.

A wallet is not a bag. A wallet is also very easily identified

The OP's wallet doesn't look like a wallet.

There are ways to search items like wallets that do not involve human beings who may or may not have sticky fingers. It is not unreasonable to ask that your cash not be handled by them.

The OP didn't mention having her cash handled (that was somebody else), just her wallet opened. Unzipping a wallet or any other container in full view of its owner isn't a "sticky fingers" situation.

Not ask if the security guard can open, they should ask the owner to open the zipper and show them what's inside.

Honestly I would have been surprised to have a guard do this as I haven't ever known them to do that before. And I still maintain Disney also should want their security to follow the protocol of asking the guest to open anything that appears to be a wallet. Their setting themselves up by not doing that.

Advising everyone approaching the bag check = asking the owner to open the wallet. The OP opted TWENTY TIMES not to unzip various containers inside her bag, and possibly attached compartments either. ONE TIME, one security guard opted to unzip one container that the OP had not unzipped and which is not necessarily identifiable as a wallet. The OP neglected to follow procedure twenty times.

Some on this thread made suggestions that I should empty my back pack and open all these items for the check. Is this the general consensus or just unzip the bag and let the guard determine what item in my bag should require further inspection?

I don't think anyone suggested you empty your backpack. Many, many people stated you should have had everything with a zipper unzipped before you got to the guard.

With the wallet situation, I had previously stated that I had spoken to a manager and his excuse was that security guards are instructed to open every zipper. And this clearly isn't reality,

Instructed to, not required to. You can't state that what the manager told you isn't reality without being present at every training session.