http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/305676
video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3sH1GaO ... r_embedded
New Orleans - Controversy has generated a YouTube video showing an airport security officer in New Orleans giving a detailed, full-body search to a 6 year-old girl; the TSA calls it an approved "modified pat-down".
The girl's father, Todd Drexel, recorded the video because the intensity of the search, which took place on April 5, caused him deep disgust. He said that although his daughter Anna was quiet during the pat down, following the contentious check for weapons she was very confused and began to cry and wonder what she had done wrong and why a stranger touched her that way
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The video shows a female airport security officer meticulously searching Anna in the security area of the air terminal. The security officer goes as far as touching her groin and buttocks.
Selena Drexel, Anna's mother, said her daughter was confused and argues that this sort of extreme frisking is inappropriate for children because they're regularly told not to allow adults touch them in sensitive areas.
"I asked them to replace the frisking by an alternative, such as going again through the scanner, but they refused," said Mrs. Drexel.
The girl's parents asked that these procedures be changed, especially in the case of small children.
The administration of airport security at New Orleans upheld the extreme search carried out by its staff. "The Transportation Security Administration has reviewed the incident and determined that the officer followed “existing protocols” for performing a "modified" pat-down, used on children under 12," they said according to a NYDailyNews report.
However, the TSA spokesman acknowledged that the agency is "reviewing its policies and scanning procedures" to improve on this matter, especially for "young passengers."
Seems to be happening all over
TSA Pats Down an 8-Year-Old On His Way to Disneyland
http://news.gather.com/viewArticle.acti ... 4979228955
It's happened again. The TSA pats down an 8-year-old boy on his way to "the happiest place on Earth" - Disneyland. The procedure left his mother outraged, and she's not the only one seeing red.
The Sheahan family never imagined that their trip would start so horribly, but it did, and it seems to be a growing trend in TSA security. While at the Portland International Airport they were screened. Everything was fine until their 8-year-old son went through the scanners and it beeped an unnatural beep. That's when their trouble started.
"It beeped like a beep you normally don't hear," Heather Sheahan said.
The next thing they knew they were witnessing their young son going through a thorough pat-down check.
"They went up his leg, into that area, down the next leg, up here (chest), felt all over," she explained.
Both parents felt this was inappropriate, as many parents would.
Is this kind of a pat-down age-appropriate for a young child? No matter how professional the TSA agent is, this has to send mixed messages to children - especially young ones like this boy. Many parents instruct their children early on what areas are designated as private and are not to be touched by anyone by those cleaning them up. Yet, here's the TSA agent with their hands in those very areas. Doesn't this signal something wrong in the child's head? If nothing else it's got to be very traumatic and uncomfortable for them.
"I was confused," 8-year-old Spencer said. "I did not know what they were going to do to me."
Unfortunately, there's not much that can be done to avoid these scans as the TSA claims they would never exclude an entire group as it invites terrorists to exploit that group. So, what can a concerned parent do to avoid having their child go through this horrible experience? Well, for starters, don't fly. It seems that only flights do these sorts of scans, and it's part of the price you pay for their services. Some services you don't want, but you get free of charge, anyway. Alternate travel choices that are pat-down search friendly include buses and trains. They will get you to your destination slower, but at least your child won't have to be subjected to invasive searches to get where you're headed.
What do you think of these searches? Are they a necessary evil or just plain evil? Weigh in below.
Oh the terrorists! The terrorists, we must give up our civil liberties to keep us safe from the "terrorists" [
Next time we have another suspiciously conveniently timed terror bomb attempt or actual attack, we can expect all our rights and liberties to go out the window, and see a whole new level of warfare on the mind and overseas.
THANKFULLY, one US politician is trying to do something. After having his own young daughter groped by TSA, he's trying to push a ban on this stuff:
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/politics/51629596-90/agency-body-chaffetz-daughter.html.csp
Washington • After his 15-year-old daughter was whisked away from her mother for a pat down at Ronald Reagan International Airport, U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz says he’s had enough and introduced legislation this week to bar pat downs of minors without parental consent.
Chaffetz, R-Utah, the chairman of an Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee that watches over the Transportation Security Administration, says his wife and two daughters were flying to Utah from Washington a few weeks ago, when they refused to go through whole-body imaging machines, which the congressman has railed against as intrusive.
An agent moved daughter Ellis to another location and patted her down, while Chaffetz’s wife, Julie, was sidetracked by her own screening, Chaffetz says.
“I am so furious with them I can’t even see straight,” Chaffetz said Thursday. “They should not be taking minors by themselves for pat downs.”
The new legislation would make it so that TSA can’t pat down a minor unless a parent gives consent and is present for the screening. If a minor is traveling alone, a representative of an air carrier must supervise the pat down.
Chaffetz also sent a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole on Wednesday after a video surfaced showing a 6-year-old girl being frisked by agents despite a protest from her mother.
“The agency must get serious about the manner in which it seeks to balance national security with personal privacy,” Chaffetz wrote to Pistole in requesting a report on the incident. “At the very least, it cannot continue to operate under the belief that little girls and handicapped children pose such a serious threat that [agents] must abandon all manner of decency when interacting with them.”
My God, it frightens me to think just how far things are falling. I don't even remember this kind of shit under Bush. And parents just sit there and take it.
When will America start waking up and getting angry? And saying no to this stuff?
