The Washington Times reports that TSA has issued memos to its security theater actors reminding them that they are not ordinary police officers, and can only search passengers and their luggage for items that might pose an immediate threat.
An angry aide to Rep. Ron Paul, an iPhone and $4,700 in cash have forced the Transportation Security Administration to quietly issue two new rules telling its airport screeners they can only conduct searches related to airplane safety.
In response, the American Civil Liberties Union is dropping its lawsuit on behalf of Steve Bierfeldt, the man who was detained in March and who recorded the confrontation on his iPhone as TSA and local police officers spent half an hour demanding answers as to why he was carrying the money through Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.
The new rules, issuedin September and October, tell officers “screening may not be conducted to detect evidence of crimes unrelated to transportation security” and that large amounts of cash don’t qualify as suspicious for purposes of safety.
“We had been hearing of so many reports of TSA screeners engaging in wide-ranging fishing expeditions for illegal activities,” said Ben Wizner, a staff lawyer for the ACLU, pointing to reports of officers scanning pill-bottle labels to see whether the passenger was the person who obtained the prescription as one example.
He said screeners get a narrow exception to the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable searches, strictly to keep weapons and explosives off planes, not to help police enforce other laws.
I can only echo Say Uncle’s comment: “Good”.
Tags: ACLU, Security theater, TSA
…yeah, probably not a good idea. Turning airport security into a general police stop, in addition to invading people’s personal privacy, would slow things up like crazy. Good call, TSA. You guys leave the evidence to the police and the customs to the customs.
Here’s to the ACLU, who have helped so many in times of need,
venomlash
P.S. See? Common ground!