TSA Freeze Drills: They Aren't Actual Officers And You Don't Have To Freeze
Know your rights. Joe Sharkey writes in The New York Times:
IN general, I don't take orders from anyone except (as a matter of prudence) my wife. So the last time I was in an airport and security agents started bellowing, "Freeze!" I simply carried on with my business of buying a box of chocolates at a pushcart a few dozen feet away from the Transportation Security Administration checkpoint area.I was immediately upbraided, not by a security officer, but by a fellow passenger. Like dozens of other travelers near the checkpoint, he had abruptly halted in place, on command, as if playing a children's game.
"You're supposed to freeze!" the guy growled at me as he stood motionless in the frozen tableau of the reflexively compliant.
But wait a minute: Am I really supposed to freeze? At many airports, T.S.A. officers conduct occasional drills in which the agents suddenly start screaming things like "Code Bravo! Freeze!" The drills, which the T.S.A. tells me happen only once or twice a year at any given airport, are intended to give the officers experience in what happens if there is a security breach. The goal is to train them in how to quickly shut down a checkpoint and, once the potential threat is resolved, get it up and running again in a timely manner.
"These drills are generally conducted during off-peak hours to minimize disruption, and generally last a minute," said Kristin Lee, a spokeswoman for the agency. The agency conducts a range of security exercises, not all of them in public, to train checkpoint officers, she said.
Understood, I said. But still, am I, a citizen, required to stop motionless when the T.S.A. officers yell "freeze"?
Actually, no. The agency has "wide-ranging legal authority to carry out security-related responsibilities," Ms Lee said. But in these specific drills, she added, "passengers are not required to 'freeze' in place like statues." But if they are within the checkpoint security area, they may be required to remain there until the drill has ended, she said.
...On the two occasions that I have experienced the freeze drill -- once at the Los Angeles airport and, more recently, at Atlanta -- it was clear to me that travelers believed they were required to stop and stand motionless -- even those who had cleared security and were merely within shouting distance of the checkpoint. Officers seemed to reinforce that impression, too.
TSA "officers" aren't actual police officers with any ability to arrest you. On a side note, they aren't required to have first aid training and would really rather you have your heart attack elsewhere, thanks. (They're really too busy making you put your liquids and gels back in the baggie after you've come through security -- just to show you how powerful they are, even with those pretend police badges they wear.)
More from "Ask The Pilot" Patrick Smith on the freeze drills and TSA powers:
TSA guards do not have law enforcement power -- much as the agency has done a good job at fooling people into believing otherwise. Screeners are now called "officers" and they wear blue shirts with badges. Not by accident, the badges look exactly like the kind worn by police.Thus the cynics out there see the freeze drills as a means of control and intimidation. They probably feel the same way about the recent revelation that "arrogant complaining about airport security" is an indicator used by screeners when looking for criminals and terrorists.
In both cases that's probably unfair, though TSA is, at times, prone to bullying and guilty of a certain mission-creep. At the airport, TSA's job is to keep dangerous items and dangerous people away from planes, end of story. We can argue over the definition of dangerous, but TSA holds the authority -- legitimately enough in my opinion -- to inspect your belongings and prevent you from passing through a checkpoint. However, it does not have the authority to interrogate you, make you stand in one place, recite the national anthem or otherwise compromise your rights.
Thanks for the reminder, Lisa Simeone.
More and more I feel like flying has become a game of Russian Roulette. Not in the sense that any plane might have a bomb on it, but that by entering the airport I'm taking a huge chance that some woman in a fake officer uniform paid barely above minimum wage may cop a feel of my ladyparts.
Last month I was travelling and saw that the airport I was going through had a scanner. The friend I was with started whispering while we stood in line, begging me not to make a scene if they chose me for the scanner. I told her (no whispering!) that if they tried to get me to go into the scanner, I would inform them of my legal rights (I was carrying a card with the Bill of Rights on it so I could quote directly) and that I would make a scene if they tried feel me up. I had no intention of standing there silently while some chick becomes more familiar with my body than my last date!
Amazingly, she was chosen for the scanner instead of me. I was surprised, since I know that at least one of the officers heard me speaking so I stood to the side and watched. They were scanning every fourth person, or anyone who set off the metal detector.
Wow. Sounds like an effective way of finding terrorists. All anyone with a bomb shoved up their vagina or strapped to their back would have to do is to watch for a minute and then make sure they weren't the fourth person.
I'm so glad we're one of the most technologically advanced countries in the world; otherwise those bad, bad terrorists might not be able to counter our anti-terrorism methods of counting to four!!
Zoogie2 at April 28, 2011 8:53 AM
I used to fly regularly from my home in the L.A. area to Las Vegas or the Bay area, no more. I drive now to avoid the hours of agony standing in lines, getting irradiated, hailing cabs, losing luggage, and being crammed into flying buses full of sick people and screaming children. The T.S.A. is the proverbial last straw; unless I have to travel more than 1500 miles, I'll be traveling by automobile with several overweight suitcases full of shampoo bottles (full sized; no zip lock baggies), nail clippers, and snacks for the trip. I will be listening to music of my own choosing, singing along at full volume and I will have a vehicle to use upon my arrival without the added expense of renting a car.
"Mission creep" Yeah, if their "mission" is to deter the use of the airline industry, they're doing a great job. If it's deterring or preventing terrorist acts, not so much.
Savant-Idiot at April 28, 2011 12:07 PM
"A.J. Castilla, a screener at Boston's Logan Airport and a spokesman for a screeners union, is eager to get a badge. "It'll go a long way to enhance the respect of this workforce," he said."
That's the last paragraph from Amy's second link. All I could think reading it was that the first step in enhancing the respect of the workforce (of TSA employees) would be not having people who are essentially useless at doing the job they're hired for (detecting possible terrorists/ making us safer) while being more and more aggressive and sexually harassing people.
Basically, calling them officers and giving them badges just makes them more laughable, much the way a lot of people already make fun of mall security, calling them "rent-a-cops" and whatnot.
Jazzhands at April 28, 2011 4:47 PM
I understand your point of view, but I find it oddly disturbing.
Part of me admires free and critical thinkers. Part of me is disturbed that people no longer instinctively obey and then think about the situation.
As a mom, I want my children to instinctively obey when I see danger and they don't. As a teacher, I want my students to instinctively obey. I am forced to train my students to obey me. I have to explain, justify, teach, and punish to achieve compliance.Yuck! Student's education depend on obedience (Imagine a fight at every turn: get out your pencil, be quiet so that everyone can hear instruction, write your name on your paper, blah, blah, blah. At some point, they just need to do it!). Some day I may have their lives in my hands. I just need them to do what I ask them to do - immediately.
No, they don't have to obey me. My students tell me that they don't have to listen - and I guess that they are right. They laugh at us just like people laugh at mall security or TSA officers.
Some day, our lives may really be in their hands. The TSA may uncover weapons. They may yell freeze to isolate the criminals and make it easier to stop them. Meanwhile, law-abiding passengers may ignore instructions, allowing the "bad guys" to mingle with them and become part of a crowd. They may get in the way of enforcement. So not only are you teaching our youth to disregard authority, we may indeed be risking all of our lives.
jen at April 28, 2011 5:45 PM
I think there's a certain amount of class warfare going on. Most TSA "agents" are lucky not to be on the dole, and tney love to take it out on everyone rich enough to fly.
KateC at April 28, 2011 6:06 PM
"As a teacher, I want my students to instinctively obey"
I really hope you aren't my kids teacher. Ever. I tend to do a fair amount of teaching my kids NOT to instinctively obey-talk about making them easy prey.
And do you mean to imply that criminals WON'T freeze if everyone else does, and thereby hide in the crowd? Did you think about that situation?
What would TSA even do if they found a bomb or weapon? They have no authority to detain or arrest, so I guess it would be their job to give a description to the cops when they got there, assuming the guilty party didn't just detonate the bomb then and kill the guards too.
momof4 at April 28, 2011 6:43 PM
Amy Alkon
http://www.advicegoddess.com/archives/2011/04/28/they_arent_actu.html#comment-2085636">comment from jenJen, the problem is that we have kartoon kops (in the TSA). These are not highly trained, competent law officers like my friend Sergeant Heather -- who I'd trust with my life. These are people who answered the ad for the TSA instead of the one for McDonald's and got the groovy tin badge and the ability to abuse their unfortunately given authority. We risk our freedoms by not questioning the authority of these people -- and very likely our lives as well. (I wrote about how my boyfriend flew into Detroit hours before the pantybomber. The TSA heard there was a situation with a man with explosives on the plane. Did they deboard the plane far from the gate? Nope. Brought it right up to the terminal, in the shadow of the big, beautiful Westin, right in the middle of all the other big planes.)
Amy Alkon at April 28, 2011 6:49 PM
You want your kids to argue and question everything like the examples that I gave. Listening, writing their name on a paper, etc. There is a place for critical thinking within a structure. Without a basis of obedience, you can't get to the critical thinking part.
I love it when students question me and say PROVE IT! That shows that they are thinking. I want that.I reward them if they discover that I have made a mistake. I cannot get to that point when everyone is doing their own thing and won't listen and yes, obey.
It is hard when children have not learned basic rules like taking turns and all want it their way. Middle school students should be able to do things like play a board game without a lot of instruction. There are "rules" to every aspect of our lives that we instinctively obey if we are to be civilized.
Jen at April 28, 2011 6:56 PM
Anybody with access google and a marginal searching ability can easily find more than enough evidence that there would be more risk to instinctively putting your life in the hands of the TSA instead of thinking for yourself.
Adults in an airport are nothing at all like children in a classroom. Obey instinctively? I guess it would make things easier for your rulers, wouldn't it? Sit down, shut up and do as you're told- It's For Your Own Good, after all.
Not Sure at April 28, 2011 8:57 PM
Jen, you're talking apples and oranges. We're not children. And we're not herd animals. We're thinking adults. We're citizens. Citizens. That implies rights THAT CANNOT BE TAKEN AWAY UNLESS WE LET THEM.
This "instinctively obey" stuff is scary. That's exactly what our overlords want -- automatons who unthinkingly obey every order thrown at them. That's why we have thousands of people being harassed, assaulted, and abused at airports every day. More critical thinking, please, and less obeying.
Lisa Simeone at April 29, 2011 4:37 AM
"Jen, the problem is that we have kartoon kops (in the TSA). These are not highly trained, competent law officers like my friend Sergeant Heather --"
With the reduction in hiring standards and minimum instruction provided, law enforcement at all levels is saturated with people that are ill qualified for their role. Officers like your friend are competent officers because they were a competent person to start with, not because of some training they received after joining the department. A great deal of the publics anger is directed at the screener. I doubt the people making $9.00 hr. are in a position to change much of anything.
nuzltr2 at April 29, 2011 6:24 AM
"I really hope you aren't my kids teacher. Ever. I tend to do a fair amount of teaching my kids NOT to instinctively obey-talk about making them easy prey."
Seconded. Think this one out. An automaton is NOT what you are chartered to produce as a teacher. Well, maybe that's the mission according to the teacher's union, but that's not giving us useful citizens!
jen:
Very simply, you are mistaken if you think police are the solution. If you think about the terminal and about tactics used already - and about tactics yet to be seen - you will realize that no, nobody serious is going to run and be abetted by someone foiling the crack TSA security force (Awkk - spit) pursuing them through the terminal. Wow. Can you even imagine seeing those idiots run - after someone with a weapon? Please!
The best place now to set off a bomb is in a terminal. That's what reacting to the last threat, not the real one, gets us all.
Think about that, about a backpack or vest turning 300 of you in line into ketchup, as you stand in line to submit to another round of fondling. Think about your willingness to believe the tremendous lie that because criminals misbehave, you must be restricted!
Radwaste at April 29, 2011 8:13 AM
I can think. I have a lot of experience in a variety of industries. I have friends with military and law enforcement backgrounds - SEALs, FBI, SC State Police... I've corresponded with the late Jeff Cooper, the "father' of formal police firearms training.
So it's especially galling to me to watch this theater stuff going on. It's not doing anything, because it doesn't address a critical factor in law enforcement: law enforcement has rules. Criminals do not.
So, you deal with an agile adversary, the criminal. Rather than think like a victim, you must think like an aggressor, for the attacker always chooses the method and time of attack.
So, here are some things you aren't protected from by obvious means, and which the FBI and other agencies are, in fact, thinking about. Few of these even make you notice, because a professional deterrent cannot alert the adversary, who looks just like you.
Scenarios:
1) Explosive device delivered to populated venue. Concerts, graduation ceremonies, the line you're standing in to be groped, etc.
2) Coordinated rifle attack. Remember The Beltway Sniper? Do that in several cities at once and see what happens.
3) Railcar sabotage or truck bomb. If you know what travels the rails (look up "ERG 2008"), you know that your neighborhood can be wiped out with a properly placed, multiton detonation of propane or a release of chlorine gas. No, McVeigh didn't use it all up.
4) Air/air suicide. The most vulnerable phase of air travel is just after the plane leaves the ground. Think "Sully and the Hudson River". You don't need RPGs or big rifles to make this happen. Take a small plane and intercept the airliner. Bang!
If you want maximum effect for minimum jail time and a high survival rate for your crew, have your buddies take rifles and put a hole in the tail of every commercial and military plane they can find. Nobody's flying after that, and all you're really doing is property damage.
These all take seconds or minutes to execute, and both before and after the event, the aggressor engages in wholly legal activities.
---------------------
THE KEY TO THIS IS TO RECOGNIZE THAT IF THIS ISN'T HAPPENING, IT IS EITHER ALREADY BEING PREVENTED OR YOUR SUPPOSED ENEMY IS NOT REALLY THERE.
In both cases, this is bad for your status as a citizen, because you are being manipulated as surely as anyone has ever been.
Enjoy!
Radwaste at April 29, 2011 8:38 AM
Of course, if they ever give me any trouble for not freezing, I shall reply "Simon didn't say."
Dangerboy at April 29, 2011 12:17 PM
You know -- isn't it really pathetic, that Americans need to get somewhere more than they think they need their Constitutional rights?
Radwaste at April 29, 2011 4:03 PM
Best I can tell, most people aren't really interested in their Constitutional rights (or more to the point- being deprived of them, because that only happens to those who deserve it) until they find those rights gone when they least expect it.
By then, it's too late.
Not Sure at April 29, 2011 7:44 PM
Leave a comment