TSA: Keeping The Air Safe From Cash

From the New York Post:

Two TSA agents were busted today at Kennedy Airport for stealing $160,000 in cash from bags, authorities said.

Davon Webb, 30, and Couman Perad, who turned 36 today, were arrested after admitting they had regularly stolen from checked bags…

In one instance, Perad, who joined the Transportation Security Administration in 2002, and Webb, who has been an agent since 2004, stole $39,000 on Jan. 30 from a bag at Terminal 8, sources said….

Perad and Webb would screen bags looking for loot, then swipe the cash once the luggage was opened in a private screening room…..

Previous blogging on the TSA detaining someone for having too much cash. A parade of Reason coverage of the TSA.

Comments

[Tim]

Nobody watching these watchers.

[Yup]

Somebody must have been watching, as they were caught and arrested.

[Tom]

they were caught and arrested

...after how long? And do you think that any of those passengers will get their money back?

[Colonel_Angus]

If anything, the TSA or whoever will fine the crooks a small fraction which will just go to funding more TSA.

[kinnath]

I'm torn between my unrelenting hatred of the TSA and my amazement that someone is dumb enough to put $39K in checked luggage.

[Other Derp]

They were probably planning to leave their spouse, amirite?

[Episiarch]

See? The scanner pictures will never get out. Never.

[Tim]

You can bet your paycheck on it!

[Pro Libertate]

Not for free, no.

[pancakes]

The only reason someone would want to use cash is to eliminate a paper trail. Just because the TSA can't prove these were bad people doesn't mean that the world is a little bit safer once their cash has been removed. What do you think people use to buy illegal guns and deadly narcotics?

That's right, cash. It is fairly evident that anyone with more than one hundred dollars cash is probably a criminal. The TSA are always one step ahead of our enemies.

[R C Dean]

The TSA are always one step ahead of our enemies.

Too many words, pancakes.

[Tom]

It is fairly evident that anyone with more than one hundred dollars cash is probably a criminal.

My god! There are a million legal reasons that someone might have thousands in cash on them. How can you make such a ridiculous statement? You have to be joking.

What do you think people use to buy illegal guns and deadly narcotics

...this is a libertarian site. Please know your audience.

[Tom]

I feel like an ass. After reading farther down, I realize that this pancake guy is a joke.

That's a relief.

[R C Dean]

Ooh, ooh! Let me guess:

"After a thorough review of the incident, the TSA finds that the agents involved were following proper procedures."

Followed by:

"The agents involved have filed a lawsuit against the TSA, claiming permanent disability from the traumatic accusations that they stole from luggage."

[Tim]

Do you think they smuggled the money out in their underpants? That would be ironic.

[Pro Libertate]

Hey, those employees will be suspended with pay for seven years.

[John Thacker]

Not quite yet-- they only recently got approval from the President to unionize, after the restrictions on unionizing got removed in the previous Congress.

[Pro Libertate]

Well, they should have that right, dammit.

[TSA Agent]

that *human* right

[Tim]

Is that stolen jewelry in your pocket or are you just happy to see us?

[Pro Libertate]

The TSA can take whatever it wants from travelers. Think of it as a use tax.

[Sovereign Immunity]

If it's a sartorial item, then would it not be an excise tax?

[pancakes]

Maybe if we just payed the TSA agents more they wouldn't feel the need to remove cash. Don't get me wrong, I approve of the TSA and support any measure need to protect public safety. However, the negative publicity is more dangerous than large amounts of cash. If people lose faith in the TSA, then they might stop trusting government. This loss of faith in the power to protect everyone's well being may very well be more dangerous in the long run.

[Ragnar]

This is the funniest thing ever posted on Reason. Kudos to pancakes!

[Tim]

We need to pat down the TSA people after they pat us down to make sure that they haven't stolen our wallets. If anyone understands the need to invade privacy for the greater good, it's TSA.

[Lost_In_Translation]

mutual patdowns...with even more awkwardness. Nice.

[Corduroy]

Even pancakes is getting in on the sarcasm now

[Hugh Akston]

pancake, please stick around. We need you on this blog more than you can imagine.

[waffles]

pancakes isn't here man. I support free minds and free markets.

[Anonymous Coward]

This is actually some quality trolling. It's reasonable, grammatically correct, begs the question in the right places, and is posted on a forum guaranteed to piss off regulars.

Well played, troll. Well played.

[Gambinos]

kennedy's our territory. which prison these clowns going to?

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[Tim]

Right now the earnest Reason Intern is thinking about how she should have interned at TSA.

[omg]

A friend of my parents once related a similar story. She bought a really expensive purse, but took it through carry-on. She apparently put it through the scanner machine and never saw it again. The guards all denied she ever had a purse to begin with when she questioned them.

[P Brooks]

Fine tuning is what the TSA needs! And more information about us!

[Anomalous]

Hang them.

[Mr. FIFY]

And fuckers like Ed Schultz want TSA goons to be union-protected...

[GroundTruth]

And here I thought it was just hyperbole when I referred to the TSA thugs as "criminals"! Turns out I was right after all!

[TSA Union Organizer]

It will all change when TSA is unionized.

[David Friedman]

When they search your bag, they leave you a note. If they were concerned about pilferage, the note would contain information identifying which agent searched the bag. If they got two or three reports of pilferage by the same agent, there would be good reason to investigate further.

As of the last time my bag was searched, the note contained no identifying information. TSA may claim that "it has "a zero-tolerance policy on theft in the workplace," but it's obviously lying.

[Highway]

Yes, because *no* stealing lying TSA agents would think of putting someone else's note in your bag, or maybe just not leaving the note...