The U.S. Transportation Security Administration is introducing a standard pat-down procedure at airport security checkpoints across the country.
The examination is part of the agency's plan to consolidate five previous kinds of pat-downs into one standard procedure. The specific procedure that has been selected as the new standard has not been detailed by the agency, but a Bloomberg report said the agency has informed police in case there are complaints about "abnormal" examinations.
"Passengers who have not previously experienced the now standardized pat-down screening may not realize that they did in fact receive the correct procedure, and may ask our partners, including law enforcement at the airport, about the procedure," agency spokesman Bruce Anderson told Bloomberg.
The policy change has been introduced at all U.S. airports and does not involve any different areas of the body than those that were screened in the previous standard pat-down procedure, according to a TSA statement.
The TSA also said it "continues to adjust and refine our systems and procedures to meet the evolving threat and to achieve the highest levels of transportation security."
Shane Carter, a spokesman at Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport/Adams Field, referred questions about the procedure to the TSA, while Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport Director Kelly Johnson said the "comprehensive" screening has been in place at the airport for about a week. So far, Johnson said, there have been no complaints about the pat-down procedure at the airport.
"They've stressed it's going to be a little more time-consuming for the person that's being patted down," Johnson said. "But overall, we don't think it's going to slow down the flow at the checkpoint any at all. We don't think there will be any real big differences there."
The TSA screens about 2 million passengers a day at U.S. airports.
According to its website, TSA officers "use the back of the hands for pat-downs over sensitive areas of the body. In limited cases, additional screening involving a sensitive area pat-down with the front of the hand may be needed to determine that a threat does not exist."
Individuals who decline to walk through the TSA's imaging scanners -- or passengers who have set off the scanners or drawn the attention of a canine team -- will undergo a pat- down. Passengers are also randomly selected for pat-downs as part of the TSA's "unpredictable security measures."
Passengers who are selected for a pat-down can request private examinations if they're "uncomfortable with being patted down in public," according to Johnson.
Pat-downs will continue to be conducted by someone of the same gender as the passenger, and a supervisor will be on hand for private screenings. Passengers can have a witness on hand for a private screening.
The TSA's new standardized pat-down procedure is being introduced after the agency recently reported it had discovered 79 firearms in carry-on bags around the nation from Feb. 20-26. That included 21 firearms discovered Feb. 23, which is a single-day record, according to the agency's blog.
"This is being done to protect the public's safety, and it might be perceived as a bit of a nuisance," Johnson said. "Unfortunately, it's the state in which we currently live."
A Section on 03/07/2017