TSA searches body-casted three-year-old in a wheelchair

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Cory Doctorow - BoingBoing



http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=YNO-AzPxS4U

Here's a video of a Chicago TSA operative searching a three year old boy who is in a wheelchair, wearing a body-cast, on the way to his family trip to Disney World. The boy's parents were not allowed to hold him or touch him to comfort him during the procedure.


A toddler in a wheelchair is stopped by the TSA at ORD (O'Hare Airport in Chicago) and forced to into a sequestered area. On his way to a family vacation in Disney, this 3 year old boy is in a body cast for a broken leg. Despite assurances from his father that "everything is ok", he is physically trembling with fear while he watches his two siblings, mother, father, grandfather and grandmother pass through along with everyone else...only to be singled out.

[deebakes]

wtf is wrong with these tsa mf'ers :idk:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Mike M. Ahlers and Lizzie O'Leary, CNN


(CNN) -- A 2010 video of an airport screener patting down a 3-year-old boy in a wheelchair has become the latest Rorschach test of the public's attitude towards the TSA, pitting agency defenders against those who say the video shows the child being treated like a terrorist.

Posted on YouTube Saturday night by the child's father, the video had nearly 100,000 hits by Monday evening.

Matt Dubiel, the father of Rocco Dubiel, videotaped the incident in the spring of 2010 at Chicago Midway International. He posted the video after rediscovering it last week, saying he became enraged anew when reviewing it, he said.

"There is another human being putting their hands on my child. That is not acceptable," he said. "If he was putting his hands on my child at McDonald's or anyplace else, we would immediately have him arrested and call the police."

The Transportation Security Administration noted the agency has changed its procedures since 2010 and said pat downs of children 12 and younger are unlikely, although still possible, under the new protocols.

Under the new TSA policy that took effect in September, screeners can work with parents to resolve alarms at the checkpoint. Among other options, screeners can have the children go through metal detectors or body scanners multiple times or can swab their hands to test for traces of explosives.

"The new modified screening measures have greatly reduced, though not eliminated, pat downs of children," TSA spokesman Greg Soule said. "While recognizing that terrorists are willing to manipulate societal norms to evade detection, our officers continue to work with parents to ensure a respectful screening process for the entire family at the checkpoint."

Children in wheelchairs continue to present special challenges, since the metal chairs trigger alarms in metal detectors and scanners. That increases the likelihood of alternate screening methods being used, including limited pat downs, to find the small amounts of explosives that experts say could bring down a plane.

Dubiel said he faults the TSA; not the individual screener. The screener tried to calm his son, he said.

But "I think the whole exercise was intrusive and disrespectful to a human being, and a 3-year-old human being," he told CNN.

The videotape shows the screener lifting the young boy's shirt to briefly swab his back, apparently straying from normal TSA protocols. Typically, screeners would only swab a person's hands and articles of clothing or items they are carrying.

Dubiel said the screening occurred when his family was departing for a trip to Disney World.

"I tape recorded it because I wanted to let the gentleman know that was examining my son that there was a camera on him, and anything that he was going to do, that he needed to be comfortable doing on camera. And if he wasn't, he needed to stay away from it."

Dubiel said he was told he could not stand next to his son during the search.

"I was told I couldn't comfort or hug my son. I couldn't hug him. I couldn't hold his hand," he said.

"And I tried to make the best out of it. But as I'm standing there as a parent doing this, I'm thinking about, should I do something more; should I not?"

Dubiel said he disapproved of the pat down, but did not immediately object because he feared the consequences.

"My fear was, if I made a bigger deal out of it, then I could be detained, or we could miss our flight, or we could miss our vacation. All of these things are dancing around in my head," he said.

Dubiel said he forgot about the videotape, but stumbled upon it Saturday.

"As we watched it, I felt like I was in the moment again," he said. "I was overcome with the same emotion I felt -- anger and sadness and frustration.

"The more I thought about it, the more I thought I'm going to share this," Dubiel said. "I wanted to share with other parents and let them see firsthand what happened."

In hindsight, he said, he regrets that he didn't stop the pat down.

"There hasn't been one instance in the United States of a 3-year-old carrying explosives onto an airplane or doing ill will to anyone," he said.

Like some other TSA controversies, this one resulted in heated commentary on the many Internet sites that featured the video.

"Totally unacceptable," wrote one YouTube commentator. "I look at the abject terror in this tiny child's eyes, and I know who caused it. I know who the terrorist is - it's the creep in the blue shirt."

"I don't think a man can be called a creep ... for doing what his job requires him to do, especially since he could be easily fired for not following the rules," another viewer responded.

The TSA, meanwhile, said a new TSA Cares hotline now serves as a resource for passengers with disabilities, medical conditions or other circumstances or their loved ones who want to prepare for the screening process prior to flying.

TSA recommends that passengers call approximately 72 hours ahead of travel so that TSA Cares has the opportunity to coordinate checkpoint support with a TSA Customer Service Manager located at the airport when necessary.

Travelers can contact the TSA, using Talk To TSA -- a web-based tool that allows passengers to reach out to an airport customer service manager directly. They can also reach the TSA Contact Center at 1-866-289-9673 or via e-mail at TSA-ContactCenter@dhs.gov, with questions, suggestions or to file complaints.

[MrsM]

I'm on the fence about this ...

On one hand I think it's ridiculous that the father was unable to at least stand beside his kid or hold his hand.

However - to say that "There hasn't been one instance in the United States of a 3-year-old carrying explosives onto an airplane or doing ill will to anyone," is completely stupid - as before 9/11 there hasn't been one instance of people hijacking a plane and using it to attack a building in the US. It doesn't mean that it can't happen or won't happen.

In my opinion since the boy couldn't be scanned using conventional methods he should have further screening - however how they isolate him from his family and cause the child discomfort (fear) during this process is wrong.

[Acid Trip]

This is proof that the terrorists have achieved at least one their goals. We went from a free country where people are given the benefit of the doubt to a fearful country where we pat down children 3 years old and 90 year old grandmas.

The terrorists hate how free we are so they have forced us to trade some of our freedoms for security. I seem to remember a founding father warning against such trades.

[Joebob034]

he's a terrorist

[Teh One Who Knocks]

I'm on the fence about this ...

On one hand I think it's ridiculous that the father was unable to at least stand beside his kid or hold his hand.

However - to say that "There hasn't been one instance in the United States of a 3-year-old carrying explosives onto an airplane or doing ill will to anyone," is completely stupid - as before 9/11 there hasn't been one instance of people hijacking a plane and using it to attack a building in the US. It doesn't mean that it can't happen or won't happen.

In my opinion since the boy couldn't be scanned using conventional methods he should have further screening - however how they isolate him from his family and cause the child discomfort (fear) during this process is wrong.

I disagree on your second point. The whole problem we have with security in North America is that we are not allowed to profile passengers for fear of being called racists. Sure, nobody had ever hijacked a plane before and flown it into a building, but plenty of Arab men have hijacked planes before and/or caused acts of terrorism around the world. So with all that background knowledge, does it make sense to do an invasive search of a 3 year old boy in a wheelchair while letting an person of Arab descent thru with no extra search?

The PC police have crippled this world and when there is another act of terrorism, that's who you can blame, the PC crowd.

[MrsM]

I disagree on your second point. The whole problem we have with security in North America is that we are not allowed to profile passengers for fear of being called racists. Sure, nobody had ever hijacked a plane before and flown it into a building, but plenty of Arab men have hijacked planes before and/or caused acts of terrorism around the world. So with all that background knowledge, does it make sense to do an invasive search of a 3 year old boy in a wheelchair while letting an person of Arab descent thru with no extra search?

The PC police have crippled this world and when there is another act of terrorism, that's who you can blame, the PC crowd.

The thing is - to focus on just Arabs for air travel wouldn't work because they would get non arabs to carry the stuff on board. I think they need to be random and let people know that anyone can be searched at any time.

If they follow a process where kids under 5 are not searched - then you know that someone will try to use that you their advantage.

Now don't get me wrong - I think the TSA needs to be re-worked - but race profiling is not the answer.

And I would bet that they do spend more time on suspicious persons (not just arabs) - they just don't make those "rules" public

[Jezter]

TSA has received fair amount of critisism as of late and not without a reason. Patdowns and the useless body scanners that are easy to fool... And this kind of stupid stuff will not help people to be happy and have a positive image about it. However, I have to say that I have never had a problem with the security over there in the States. They were much harder on me in France the last time I came over...Once I landed in the States, I got through everything fast and smooth.