Behavior
Detection Officers (BDO) Help Thwart
Kidnapping – Two
BDOs at Miami
(MIA) alerted on a woman with several other passengers whose behavior seemed
out of the ordinary. When the BDOs approached her and asked if she needed help,
she rejected their offer. During the conversation, they noticed that she
was attempting to disguise that she was badly bruised. The BDOs approached her
again to ask if she was harmed by the people she was traveling with, and when
she said yes, the BDOs immediately escorted her out of the checkpoint and
contacted the police. After an investigation, it was learned that the woman had
been badly beaten and was being kidnapped. Watch this video to learn more and hear from the BDOs who thwarted this crime.
Inert
Ordnance – In
addition to a spike in the number of guns found each day at checkpoints
recently, we continue to find hand grenades and other ordnance on weekly basis.
Please keep in mind that if something looks like a bomb, grenade, mine,
etc., it is prohibited - real or not. And when these items are found at the
checkpoint, they can cause significant delays to you and other passengers. I
know they are cool novelty items; I used to own a few. But again, please
don’t take them on planes! Read here
and here on
why inert items cause problems.
- Five inert grenades were found this week at 5 different airports: St. Louis (STL), San Diego (SAN), Dothan (DHN), Minneapolis (MSP), Gainesville (GNV). A replica grenade lighter was also discovered at Rochester (ROC).
- A realistic replica of an artillery round was discovered at Tucson (TUS).
- An inert warhead was discovered at Providence (PVD).
Items
in the Strangest Places
– It’s one thing to forget you had a prohibited item in your bag, but when you
intentionally try to sneak it past us, you could wind up being cited or even
arrested by law enforcement. Here are a few examples from this week where
passengers tried to sneak items past our Officers.
- A credit card with a concealed 2½-inch knife was detected in a carry-on bag at Albuquerque (ABQ).
- An artfully concealed belt buckle knife was found at Rochester (ROC).
- A 3-inch Swiss Army knife was discovered artfully concealed in a lead-lined film bag at Tampa (TPA).
Stun
Guns – 7 stun
guns were discovered in carry-on bags at checkpoints around the nation at:
Richmond (RIC), La Crosse (LSE), 2 at Denver (DEN), Dickinson (DIK), and 2 at
Baltimore (BWI).
People
Say the Darndest Things –
Here is an example of what not to say at the airport. Statements like these not
only delay the people who said them but can also inconvenience lots of other
passengers if the checkpoint or terminal has to be evacuated:
- After having their bag searched, a passenger at Bradley (BDL) stated: “Hope they get a bomb and blow you *expletive* up.”
- After a bag search was called on a passenger’s bag at Orlando (MCO), they stated: “I have two bombs in my carry-on bag.”
- A family member escorting a passenger at Phoenix (PHX) approached and Officer and stated “I am a former Al Qaeda individual escorting a family member to her flight.”
Miscellaneous
Prohibited Items -
In addition to all of the other prohibited items we find weekly, our Officers
also found firearm components, realistic replica firearms, stun guns, brass
knuckles, ammunition, batons, and a lot of sharp pointy things.
Firearms
- Here are the
firearms our Officers found in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday.
Prohibited Bling |
You
can travel with your firearms in checked baggage, but they must first be
declared to the airline.
You
can go here for more details on how to properly travel with your firearms.
Firearm possession laws vary by state and locality. Travelers should
familiarize themselves with state and local firearm laws for each point of
travel prior to departure.
Unfortunately
these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about
these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are
finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the
throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up
with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder
to please leave these items at home. Just because we find a prohibited item on
an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law
enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had
these items.
If
you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you
can contact us by clicking here.