STRIP Act targets TSA uniform: End "impersonation" of "real cops"
 

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nati...p-act-targets-
tsa.html

The STRIP Act is not some adult show.

It's a new House bill that stands for Stop TSA's Reach In Policy and would
prevent Transportation Security Administration officers from wearing law
enforcement uniforms and police-like badges and calling themselves
officers unless they receive law enforcement training.

"Congress has sat idly by as the TSA strip searches 85-year-old
grandmothers in New York, pats down 3-year-olds in Chattanooga, and checks
colostomy bags for explosives in Orlando. Enough is enough!" said the
bill’s sponsor, Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) "The least we can do is
end this impersonation, which is an insult to real cops."

The American Federation of Government Employees said the bill was
insulting to the 44,000 TSA workers it represented and did "nothing to add
to our national security.’’

"Every single member of Congress should be supporting federal employees,
not trying to demean them," the union’s national president, John Gage,
said in a statement.

Charlie Leocha, director of the Consumer Travel Alliance, said his
advocacy group supported the measure.

"I just think it’s important to not present an image to the public which
is not true," he said, adding that TSA had gone from "more of a friendly
operation ... there to help you" to workers who were "intimidating
passengers."

The bill, which has drawn 29 co-sponsors in the few weeks since it was
introduced, would prohibit any TSA employee "who has not received federal
law enforcement training or is not eligible for federal law enforcement
benefits from using the official job title of officer, or wearing a metal
badge resembling a police badge or a uniform resembling the uniform of a
federal law enforcement officer."

A TSA official said the badge and uniform represent "the professionalism
of our employees and the seriousness of our work."

The agency, which changed the name of screeners to officers in 2005, said
in a statement:

"TSA's frontline workforce protects the traveling public at airports
across the country every day, and every day our officers stop deadly
weapons from getting on aircraft. In 2008, as part of the organization's
continued efforts to transition the workforce to a cadre of well-trained,
professional transportation security officers, TSA introduced uniforms
more reflective of the critical nature of their work and of the high
standards they uphold."

The turbulence over Blackburn’s bill comes as the House on Tuesday is
poised to send to President Obama a popular measure that would require TSA
to develop an expedited screening system for military personnel and, "to
the extent possible,'' accompanying family members, if the armed forces
member is traveling on orders and in unform.

The measure was introduced by Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), a Navy veteran
and former commercial airline pilot, after he witnessed military personnel
experience lengthy waits, including having to take off their boots and
medals, at security checkpoints at Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport.

"Our soldiers who are sent off to fight for our country or returning from
the battlefield deserve to be treated like VIPs in our airports," Cravaack
said at a recent hearing.

Last week, Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) called on TSA to designate a
“passenger advocate” at every airport who can be summoned by passengers to
hear their concerns if they feel they have been inappropriately treated by
screeners.

His request came after an elderly woman claimed that she was strip-
searched at John F. Kennedy Airport. TSA says it does not conduct strip
searches.



--
Obama's black racist USAG appointee.

Eric Holder, racist black United States Attorney General drops voter
intimidation charges against the Black Panthers, "You are about to be
ruled by the black man, cracker!"

Eric Holder, prejudiced black United States Attorney General settles the
hate crime debate, "Whites Not Protected by Hate Crime Laws."

Nancy Pelosi, Democrat criminal, accessory before and after the fact, to
former House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles B. Rangel of New
York's million dollar tax evasion.

Barack Obama and Eric Holder, committed treason by knowingly and
deliberately arming enemies of the United States of America through
Operation Fast and Furious. Complicit in the murder of Federal employees
during the execution of their duties.



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