Dad upset about TSA patdown

[WorldWacky]

http://www.wthr.com/story/30893897/dad-outraged-at-tsa-pat-down-of-10-year-old-daughter

The gist is that a father is upset that his 10 year old daughter was subjected to a two minute patdown at a NC airport. In her purse, she had a juice box that exceeded the liquid limitation and a cell phone. He videotaped the patdown.

Quite frankly, I think the airport employees were just following protocol. If you don't like the new rules, either make sure you're following the guidelines or drive. No one is forced to fly. Someone just wanted their 15 minutes.

 

[Mizzoufan]

I'm not sure what else could be done.

 

[NewRVLady]

I went thru this once-no biggie

However it further states she went thru an ADDITIONAL one hour screening-now THAT would make me upset-wonder if they missed their flight?

 

[lovemygoofy]

How did the pat down take two minutes? Every time I've been patted down at the airport, it was maybe 30 seconds top.

 

[ronandannette]

I'm not sure what else could be done.

Depends on the airport - I haven't been through one in a while that didn't have the full-body scanner as an option. (You get a choice though - scan or old-school pat-down.)

 

[gwynne]

The Today show said the total "patdown" lasted about 2 minutes. They showed part of it, what I saw was creepy. Parents have some responsibility too for not being careful about the phone and capri sonne.
I also think another way to protect a young girl is to make sure she is dressed simply, shirt and jeans. The skirt appeared to add to extra touching.

 

[Mkrop]

I saw the video on the news and I still cant tell looking at this, but is this a male TSA agent? I thought (and I could be wrong) that if the person is female, the TSA conducting the patdown is female as well. I was patted down once, and they called over the female agent to do it.

 

[Kellykins1218]

I saw it on tv and it didn't look creepy at all. Maybe next time the parents will, I don't know, act like parents and explain the rules to her and make sure she's in compliance when they go through security? I am completely on TSA's side on this one.

 

[Dawnlight]

I have twin 10 year old daughters, this video and the screening doesn't look bad to me. I don't see the problem at all. I imagine that her number came up and she was randomly selected for additional inspection. It looks like a female screener to me, and I didn't see any inappropriate touching.

When flying and participating in other actions that require security, a parent needs to prepare their child for the reality that this might take place. I took a few of my kids recently to a rally for a presidential candidate. There was TSA-like security (also no liquids allowed, so water bottles were pitched in a bin); my girls were prepared, and I also pointed out all the security elements while we sat and waited for the speech (bomb-sniffing dogs, men with ear wires, etc). It's part and parcel to the world we live in now, sadly.

 

[NHdisneylover]

I have a hard time believing that only a juice box in a carry on of child resulted in an hour of extra security screening--something seems missing from the story (which, other than TSA stating that proper procedures were followed, is all based on what the father says happened). It could even be that the father's reaction to the pat down resulted in further issues. . .

In either case, the pat down doesn't strike me as out of line. Both of my kids were subject to pat downs both in the US and abroad several times over the years and several looked similar to this.

 

[mom2rtk]

I thought it looked a little invasive. And I think the dad's reaction was over the top.

http://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/Video-TSA-Agent-Pats-Down-10-Year-Old-Girl-364320731.html

I'm guessing dad's reaction to what happened was probably responsible for the extra hour of screening.

 

[tzolkin]

I saw the video on the news and I still cant tell looking at this, but is this a male TSA agent? I thought (and I could be wrong) that if the person is female, the TSA conducting the patdown is female as well. I was patted down once, and they called over the female agent to do it.

The agent was female. She appears to be female in the video and the girl also says "she" when referring to the agent in an interview.


Personally, I don't see anything "creepy" about this pat down at all. She's quickly swiping over all the areas and you can see that she keeps checking in with the girl to make sure things are okay with each step.

I think the parent is just offended that his child was screened. I'm sure many think that it's ridiculous to screen a child, but there are plenty of sick/crazy people out there who would be willing to use their child to commit a crime. (I have personally witnessed people using children to steal from stores on two occasions.)

 

[gwynne]

I thought it looked a little invasive. And I think the dad's reaction was over the top.

Agree on both points. I don't have a problem with a reasonable patdown.
2 minutes of repeatedly sliding hands over and over on a child? That's a lot of touching.

 

[sunshinehighway]

The Today show said the total "patdown" lasted about 2 minutes. They showed part of it, what I saw was creepy. Parents have some responsibility too for not being careful about the phone and capri sonne.
I also think another way to protect a young girl is to make sure she is dressed simply, shirt and jeans. The skirt appeared to add to extra touching.

Why was it creepy?
It's pretty clear in the video that the tsa agents is telling the girl exactly what she's going to do before she does it. I've had partial patdowns and that's what they do.
One time they had to patdown my lower back/butt. The tsa agent was very apologetic and respectful. She said my big metal zipper on my vintage dress was probably the cause of the scanner problem. Lesson learned, I won't wear that dress to the airport.

I guess the girl and her parents won't be putting juice boxes in her carry on anymore. I don't really have much sympathy because the patdown looks like a normal patdown and they brought it on themselves. I mean how long has it been since the liquid rules went into effect? They even have signs throughout the lines telling people the rules.

 

[Dawnlight]

So this article states that a swab of the girl's bag resulted in a (false) positive for explosives.

I think it shows the video better, and the TSA agent is clearly being kind and polite to the girl. The girl smiles at the end; she did not look or act distraught.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jan/04/tsa-10-year-old-girl/

 

[mom2rtk]

Everyone is hung up on the juice box. People do make mistakes, especially at this age when kids are starting to do their own packing. We got "caught" with a bottle of Gatorade in my daughter's backpack on the way back from Orlando when she was about this age. We both knew the rules, but she had it earlier in the day and just forgot it was in there.

 

[gwynne]

Why was it creepy?
It's pretty clear in the video that the tsa agents is telling the girl exactly what she's going to do before she does it. I've had partial patdowns and that's what they do.
One time they had to patdown my lower back/butt. The tsa agent was very apologetic and respectful. She said my big metal zipper on my vintage dress was probably the cause of the scanner problem. Lesson learned, I won't wear that dress to the airport.

I guess the girl and her parents won't be putting juice boxes in her carry on anymore. I don't really have much sympathy because the patdown looks like a normal patdown and they brought it on themselves. I mean how long has it been since the liquid rules went into effect? They even have signs throughout the lines telling people the rules.

JMO, 2 minutes of repeatedly sliding hands over a child is very different than a reasonably brief straightforward patdown.

 

[gwynne]

So this article states that a swab of the girl's bag resulted in a (false) positive for explosives.

I think it shows the video better, and the TSA agent is clearly being kind and polite to the girl. The girl smiles at the end; she did not look or act distraught.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2016/jan/04/tsa-10-year-old-girl/

I'm not going to assume whether the "false positive" came from the girl's bag or a machine malfunction. It could easily have been either one.

 

[Dawnlight]

I'm not going to assume whether the "false positive" came from the girl's bag or a machine malfunction. It could easily have been either one.

Yes, that's true. But the only way to confirm either is by having the TSA do their due diligence. Believe me, I'm no fan of the security theater this country puts on show, but the only way to prove that a positive swab is, in fact, false is to proceed with screening. If it was the machine that was faulty, it would be doing this for countless others in line, not just a 10-year-old girl.

 

[gwynne]

Yes, that's true. But the only way to confirm either is by having the TSA do their due diligence. Believe me, I'm no fan of the security theater this country puts on show, but the only way to prove that a positive swab is, in fact, false is to proceed with screening. If it was the machine that was faulty, it would be doing this for countless others in line, not just a 10-year-old girl.

I agree with you.
I've been patted down, the last time was in Dec. I guarantee you it wasn't two minutes of up, down around, and again over and over. It's the length of time that seems way out of line to me.