Any problems w/ shield at airport metal detectors?

[bronxnypd]

Recently had an interesting experience with an OTJ friend of mine on a trip to Cleveland. Smooth sailing on the trip out of LaGuardia but on the way back my buddy tosses his wallet and phone in the x-ray machine and is immediately confronted with an "Is this yours?" A TSA agent with a very concerned look on his face slowly opens his wallet to reveal my guy's "ninja star" style badge. A sigh of relief and a light hearted laugh by Mr. TSA and we're being driven to the gate. Just wondering if anyone out there has had any interesting experiences at airports, especially with TSA agents mistaking star-shaped shields for weapons. Bring on the stories!

*On a slightly disconcerting note, the LaGuardia people didn't blink their eyes when his wallet went through the machine on our way to Cleveland...

[cleetus0219]

No, never had a problem with airport security. And you know what? That is frightening.

These idiots make you take off your shoes and strip down to undershirts and pants, but they're going to allow a huge unknown chunk of metal slip through the X-ray machine every time? It is astounding.

Of course after you get through, they pick on an old white guy for their random search while Jimmy the Jihadist walks right passed them. Absolutely ludicrous.

[MPD-A9]

A TSA laugh. Thats the first i have ever heard of that.

[Photogrrlz]

No, never had a problem with airport security. And you know what? That is frightening.

These idiots make you take off your shoes and strip down to undershirts and pants, but they're going to allow a huge unknown chunk of metal slip through the X-ray machine every time? It is astounding.

Of course after you get through, they pick on an old white guy for their random search while Jimmy the Jihadist walks right passed them. Absolutely ludicrous.

Well just think about working at the courthouse..... Screening is not full proof...

People can get distracted.....

[PPDMO373]

I flew out of Reagan one time and changed my flight at the last minute so I was made to do the additional screening.
The TSA Chick was going through my carry-on stuff and about peed herself when she saw my badge/ID. She asked me if this was a test. I told her no, it wasn't. She quickly gathred my stuff up, placed it back in my backpack, and sent me on my way.....

[cleetus0219]

Well just think about working at the courthouse..... Screening is not full proof...

People can get distracted.....

Well that's fine, but failing to stop me or check through my wallet 4 times since 9-11? That's just plain wrong.

[Sgt Jack]

Funny that this subject has come up as this summer is the first time that I have done any flying since 911.... In June I flew down to Baltimore and visited some cop friends out in Delaware and a few weeks ago I just came back from San Francisco after doing two weeks visting my cousins.... like many of you folks I just dropped my badge wallet in the plastic bin and shuffled through the metal detector...keep in mind that my wallet badge has a pin back and not a clutch or clip back (the store screwed up when it was ordered) and out of the four times I've flown this summer...only in the SF airport going home to Boston did anyone even look...and all the screener did was just open up the wallet.. looked at my badge and then she put it through without a problem....seems that the sandals I was wearing for one trip were more of a big deal and not the sharp pin on my badge that could be used as a weapon...I'm still not sure how much explosives you can pack into a pair of teva's...

[SkyCop418]

TSA is how should i say it.. MORONS! Working at a major airport, they are always screwing up. They once called us to the checkpoint for a belbuckle that was engraved with a small gun, mind you it wasnt a real gun it was engraved out of metal! They wanted us to arrest the man! So we sent the man on his way as we usually do. They like over reacting.

[justme]

Just recently I was returning from a trip to Texas. Not sure if I was in the San Antonio or Newark airport when this happened. I completely forgot to take my wallet out of pocket which had my badge in it and when I went through the metal detector it set it off. Well the screener then starts asking me all about all the usual things people forget. Do you have any change, wearing a belt, any foil in your pockets? I start checking my front pockets for anything, lift my shirt and show no belt (still forgetting my wallet) and cant figure out what it is she has me go back throgh the machine. This time it doesnt even go off at all. Then she asked if I bumped into it the first time and then lets me go.

[Cruiser]

I toss my badge in the basket along with my phone and keys and spare change but because of the steel in me I guess I often set off the detector. I always end up being searched including my bags, the whole 9 yards. They always seem to look at my badge and then continue with the search and sometimes even expand it! My thought is damn stupid, I am the one guy you would like to have on the plane and if I wanted to I could take you down right now. TSA angents are mostly morons and I have a great deal of sympathy for those TSA agents that are really trying to do a proper job instead of playing grab-*** with the female agents and passengers and showing how much power they have. One TSA guy wanted to take my briefcase that held a number of negotiable checks off behind an area to "search" and did not want me to watch. Fat chance and he was told that unless I accompanied him he better call a real cop as he was not taking the case anywhere out of my sight.

[Omega4]

The ninja star thing happened to me too, once, in a rinky dink airport in the midwest. The TSA guy was decent about it at least. 99% of the time all my metal gets thrown into my carry-on bag. I even bought a belt with a velcro fastner just for flying and they still made me take it off. The only bright spot in the "new and improved" security is that as a big-game hunter, TSA seems to be more paranoid about where my rifle is then I am. Although it kills me when I fly with my rifle. Everyplace I go, there is a TSA Agent checking my ID and baggage claim against my rifle, except San Diego. In SD it just gets dumped out with the rest of the baggage. Go figure that one.

[weiner]

They see my badge in the XRay and then say "why are you here?" ( in the high security area) then they pat me down like a mamby pamby. One guy even touched me with his single index finger tip, in little jabs in each quadrant, telling me he was detecting weapons. Yeah, right.
Another Officer here is married to a Flight Attendant and they get her too as she is always a one way and at the last moment even on duty and in uniform.
The TSA is just eye wash but unlike eye wash, you dont feel much better after dealing with them. I have had stuff stolen and have got into fights with them when carying sealed evidence envelopes/bags. They want to open them and I tell them they cannot. Then they get their "stupidvisor" and he/she cant fix anything either, so its a stalemate. When you ask them to put it in writing that they are breaking the chain of evidence, they always let you go.
The Flight Attendant tells me that anyone can get anything on board just by working for/bribing a caterer. She recalled some grenades being found on board a plane in Miami a while back.......cocaine is common. She finds all kind of stuff hidden in the catering carts and they just report it: someone comes and takes it away. She says the airlines had to change the locks on their operations rooms due to TSA theft.
I caught an illegal working for the airport caterer at the local airport a while back when she was in a fender bender: false name, ID and SSN and she was at an address with another 10 of them all working for that caterer. All illegals and all with false IDs/SSNs etc. ano doubt she/they have been recycled and are back there again.
I spent some years with the Israelis and compared to them, the TSA are a load of monkeys when it comes to "security"
Our Dept tells us to ID ourselves to the flight crew when we board. Not that we are armed, just that we are there to help.
The FA carries all kinds of stuff that the TSA has never figured out: sharpened stainless steel pens, tabasco ( like liquid ASR without the aerosol), plastic handcuffs, etc. I carry the same on board.

[Cruiser]

One of the things that I really want to say to these TSA idiots is that if I was a real BG and wanted to get on that plane and get on with weapons, he would not be able to stop me. First I could just smuggle them on, let's face it, we know how and what weapons we can. Second, we could just take out any of the flight crew we wanted to with unarmed combat. Or third we could just take his sorry *** out right there and get on the plane! I know that I will never do this and if I ever did all hell would break loose and it would be a bad scene but the point is, 'we' are the good guys and we know how to do this. Do they not think that the bad guys know at least as much about getting through their security as we do?