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Amtrak Security Sweeps

Jul 11th, 2008 at 11:56 am by Susie

Yeah, my friends have been complaining how much extra time this adds to their trips.

Posted in General

3 Responses to “Amtrak Security Sweeps”

on 11 Jul 2008 at 12:55 pm1Peter VE

Don’t worry Susie: if you have nothing to hide, there’s no reason to object to a search of your bags, right? Or your Email, or your phone calls, or the register of commentors at your blog - Hey - Wait just a minute!
A long story -
Several years ago, (after 2001) a friend was flying from the midwest to the west coast. He enjoyed a last toke to prepare for the flight, parked, locked up his car and went to check in. At check in, he couldn’t find his driver’s license. He was directed to the airport information desk, where he was given a form to fill out. The form was a statement that he, “Jim Smith” swore that he was “Jim Smith”. On payment of $5, the nice woman at the information desk notarized the statement. With this notarized statement as his only ID, “Jim Smith” was able to pass security, board his flight, and flew to his destination. Rigorous work by the TSA, no?
We met him at the airport, went to our host’s house, and put our bags away. When “Jim Smith” opened his bag, “Oh mah god” escaped his lips. The bag of pot, which he thought he had left in the car, was in the carryon bag. I suspect his driver’s license was in the glove compartment of the car….
If you have something to hide, get stoned first, and you won’t be nervous about it.
on 11 Jul 2008 at 3:34 pm2Kevin

I’m actually a railfan, ya know, taking pictures of trains, ride trains with fellow enthusiasts, etc. The picture taking part of this hobby has really been under attack which we, as a group have been fighting since 9/11. What’s interesting to us is we actually can be of assistance, but instead, we’re mostly hassled by over-zealous railroad employees, or even bored kids calling the RR Police, as happed to me in Linden NJ earlier this year.

In regards to Amtrak, I’m suprised it took this long. You wanna talk target, just blow yourself up under the Hudson on the way outta Penn Station New York……..
on 11 Jul 2008 at 4:01 pm3LanceThruster

Last night I went to pick my 81 yr old father and his girlfriend from Ontario Intl Airport (SoCal). Despite rush hour traffic, I arrived there just after his plane landed. Knowing I could not park or wait curbside, I crept along looking for him through the baggage claim window. When I saw him, I stopped and honked. He turned around and headed towards me and the automatic doors (he was 25-30 ft away). At that same moment an airport TSA officer tapped my driver side glass. I rolled down the window and he said I was not allowed to park or wait here. I pointed to my father who was nearly to the vehicle and said, “There he is” and popped the trunk as I exited the vehicle. My father and his girlfriend looked on distressed wonder how this was going to turn out.

After loading his luggage, I turned back to the officer who kept flipping pages of his ticket book in an irritated fashion. He started to list all the laws I was breaking (including Federal) and that my biggest mistake was not “respecting his authority” when told to leave. I said I thought my actions complied with the “passenger loading/unloading” rule but that I was sorry that I did not understand the ordinance. He said that they have to be curbside ready to get in the car immediately. I again apologized. With a look a disgust you would think was reserved for a driver who had just mowed down a group of school kids in the crosswalk, he closed his ticket book and walked away.

LESSON LEARNED: Think of airport curbside as a ‘hot’ LZ. Insertions/extractions must be done as if hostiles are ready to pounce, with the full weight of all local law enforcement and the Federal Government behind them. “Warnings” won’t even feel like warnings.

This other DHS/TSA type encounters post 9/11 have been:

* Upon being notified by the pilot that we’d be landing in 25 minutes, I skipped a final rest room break seeing that the line was pretty long, and we’d be down in bit, and the need to go wasn’t really strong at the moment. Turns out it took more like 50 minutes to land. Once we landed however, we sat on the tarmac for almost an hour. I considered using my water bottle for relief but thought to at least make an attempt being worried about being charged with a lewd act. I was 6 feet from the lavatory when the rear seat flight attendant said, “return to your seat or I’ll have Federal Marshalls arrest you.”

On the walk of shame back to my seat, many others (including elderly) asked in distress what she said. I simply made a gesture as if my hands were in cuffs and shook my head. When I finally made it to the restroom in the airport, I barely got unzipped before I broke loose. In retrospect, I should have pissed my pants there in the plane as they could not have said sh*t about a biological emergency and at least their people could have enjoyed being part of the clean-up as well.

LESSON LEARNED: Use a toilet, go to jail!

* Being told to step back behind the white line or be arrested by the guy who wipes bags with the cloth pad that indicates explosive traces because I tried to show him how to work the latch without breaking it.

LESSON LEARNED: TSA needs no help breaking your stuff.

* Having the checked luggage set off the spectrum analyzer at LAX (it looked like I won on a game show with bells and flashing lights - no balloons or confetti though) while an officious-looking man with surgeons gloves and a look of giddy expectation strode up with a small cardboard box to empty to contents of my suitcase into. I probably also looked guilty (sweating) as I had been without sleep the night before the flight as well as worried that a bag I’ve had since the early 70’s might have had something tucked away somewhere that I had overlooked.

At some point I was convinced I would be whisked away by DHS leaving my travel companion wondering what had happened (and she was travelling on business). I was still convinced that I would be taken into custody upon arriving in NYC.
As it was, there was the little card left in the luggage that TSA had done a secondary inspection (reminded of the hotel that leaves a mint on the pillow) and that ALL my single-use eye-drop applicators had been opened and squeezed dry. I saved all the TSA notices as mementoes and found they did exactly the same thing for the return trip.

LESSON LEARNED: (a) If your luggage ever carried incriminating materials of any kind, make sure you’re squeaky clean. (b) Don’t waste your money packing eye-drops; buy them at your final destination.

—–
Despite all this, I don’t feel any safer. In fact, considering the intrusions, the rudeness, the storm trooper mentality, and the shredding of the Constitution elsewhere, I feel much more vulnerable.

PLEASE DON’T CREATE A POLICE STATE ON MY ACCOUNT!

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Amtrak Security Sweeps

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