Earlier this week the TSA was criticized for going to far for requiring a female cancer survivor to go through a breast exam after going through a full body scan. The female had a medical card explaining her condition and what medical instruments where inside her body. She had requested to show the card to the TSA agent and had requested that she not have to go through the exam because she did not feel comfortable. The agent called a supervisor over and the female was denied her request. The supervisor also told her "And if we don't clear you, you don't fly." Later on she blogged about the incident and has received coverage. TSA administration (I know that that is kind of a redundancy) issued a public apology via NBC saying that she should have been allowed to show the medical card and the agent should have offered a privet screening. The administration said that they area also going to try and use this case to further train their agents.
So did the TSA go to far? I think they were doing there job however they picked the wrong person to not be polite to. They need to remember that not every person is going to be the exact same case and there may be special circumstances involved. If an agent gets promoted to supervisor they need to go through some more training on how to deal with cases like this. The administration did a good job by stepping up and releasing a public apology but the recent issues that have made headlines with this administration show that the training is not going far enough and that some people are not using common sense when they have a special circumstance. There was another issue in June where the agents forced a 95 year old to remove their adult diaper before being allowed to fly. This is another common sense issue. Use your brain and think.
This is kind of a lose/lose situation though. Had the TSA not followed through with their protocol, and something had happened, the TSA would have been blamed for not doing its job. There is a fine line that the TSA is walking and if they step over on either side they will be blamed and criticized.
Why do I feel this way? As being a part of a family who has a member that is a breast cancer survivor, but also a person who wants to go into law enforcement, I feel as if I have a somewhat unique viewpoint. I can see third person that thin line that the agents have to walk. Yes, they did go about handling those two issues in not the best way, but they are also doing a great job of keeping the air lines safe. Like I stated above, I believe that the supervisors and agents need to go through more training and to use their common sense more.
As always this is just my opinion and this post is for my English course. You have heard what I have to say, not let me hear your opinions on this matter.
Thats really sad. I dealt with great TSA agents in the Dallas/Fort Worth airport. I was there days going through screenings each time I left the airport and came back. Both issues you displayed here are very sad, and in both if I were the head of the adminstration, those involved in them would have lost their jobs. I know they are supposed to be strict, and do things to a T. But there are plenty of times TSA agents do searches just because they want to, and it's awful to know they abuse their power, lack common sense, and compassion.
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