Police: TSA Screener Groped Passengers He Thought Attractive
Two Transportation Security Administration screeners manipulated a security system at Denver International Airport so that one of them could grope the genital areas of male passengers he deemed attractive, authorities said. Both agents were subsequently fired, according to CBS4 Denver.
In a report issued following a Feb. 9 investigation, police in the Colorado capital detailed the procedure the two suspects employed, the local affiliate said.
The first "related that when a male he finds attractive comes to be screened by the scanning machine, he will alert another TSA screener to indicate to the scanning computer that the party being screened is a female," the document detailed.
"When the screener does this, the scanning machine will indicate an anomaly in the genital area and this allows (the male TSA screener) to conduct a pat-down search of that area," it explained.
The investigation came two months after an anonymous TSA employee had relayed allegations last November that a colleague had told her that he fondles male passengers, the Washington Post said. The suspect also used an search technique that was "contradictory to TSA searching policy," an investigator who observed his actions noted in the police report.
"(He) conduct a pat-down search of that passenger's front groin and buttocks area with the palms of his hands," the investigator described. The agency's official pat-down policy requires officers to "use the back of their hand to pat-down a traveler's sensitive areas" and employ the front of their hand only for "non-sensitive areas."
In a written statement, TSA -- created after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to ensure the security of the nation's traveling public -- called the incident deplorable, according to CNN.
"These alleged acts are egregious and intolerable," said the agency, which is part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. "All allegations of misconduct are thoroughly investigated by the agency," it insisted, "and when substantiated, employees are held accountable."
The employees, who were fired, are not likely to face criminal charges, however, because TSA has not been able to identify the passengers police say were groped, the news channel explained.
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