Crazy TSA search goes too far

When Kathy Parker headed through TSA at Philadelphia International Airport for a regular business trip to North Carolina, she had no idea about the ordeal she was in for.

After being selected for a more in-depth search on one of the tables — out in the open where everyone can see — they went through her stuff, including her more personal items like receipts and diet pills (and they asked if they worked), and she was subjected to questions about the checks in her purse (they were made out to her husband). Basically, it seems that the TSA agents suspected she was in a “divorce situation,” reports Philly.com, and thought she was emptying her husband’s bank account.

Wait, the same TSA people who never notice my tube of toothpaste?

We certainly spend plenty of time irritated by the TSA’s lack of common sense and/or courtesy, but at what point do they truly cross the line? Is this kind of investigating any of their business?

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said, “”If the search is complete, and shows individuals not to be a threat to the aircraft or fellow passengers, they are free to go.” Wait, what? I think embezzlement and or possibly stealing from your husband (which she wasn’t) falls pretty far outside those parameters. Davis says she was “probably” held because her “behavior escalated.” If you were holding me hostage and reading my receipts, you can bet my “behavior” would “escalate,” too.

Vic Walczak, legal director of the Pennsylvania ACLU, is on Parker’s side, thank goodness, calling the incident “‘preposterous’ and a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects people from unreasonable searches.”

The TSA is not the FBI, and in this blogger’s opinion, the agents in question should be disciplined. This is a case of bullying and abuse of power, and at the very least a case of bored workers acting recklessly with someone else’s well-being in their hands. What do you think?

[via Philly.com]

[Photo by Mobile Edge Laptop Cases]