Groped again at the airport, followed by a lecture

by Amy Alkon on February 24, 2012

At LAX, flying Delta. Gregg told me to go through the lane at the left, and I did, but I still got marked for a search. I spent much of my morning dreading this, and when they told me I immediately burst into tears.

I was so upset at being put through a full bag search and groping that I forgot to get the name of the agent who groped my breasts and buttocks and very upsettingly, pawed my hair, violating my Fourth Amendment rights, my body, and my dignity.

At one point, I asked if she wanted me to bend over like a common criminal. She told me I should just stand up, not understanding what I was getting at.

I wept as she violated me. And then, when our little government wage-paying sexual interlude was over, I went to fill my water bottle and use the ladies room. In the ladies room, as I was shutting my stall door, I saw a TSA gropenfrau going past. She was a small Hispanic-looking woman, a little heavy, with black hair about shoulder length, pulled back into a ponytail.

I said to her “It’s terrible what you do, just terrible, violating our constitutional rights.”

She shouted, “Thank you! Thank you!”

“It’s nothing to be proud of. Disgusting.”

She then told me she was calling the cops on me and commanded me to follow her.

I ignored this and went and sat down.

I would have gone, and wanted to tell a supervisor about her attempt to intimidate me out of my First Amendment rights with the threat of arrest, but I’m also treading a delicate line here because I’m going to a conference that Gregg, very sweetly, is paying for me to fly to and attend. I can’t afford not to get there. On the other hand, I also can’t afford not to speak up for our Constitutional rights.

An officer, D. Lalicker, badge #639, #08902, came over to speak to me. Uh, lecture me. He told me she’d spoken to him and gave pretty much the account I gave above.

He wouldn’t tell me what she said, claiming it was private. I said he’s a public officer, and I’m entitled to know. What I didn’t add was this: when one is being accused, doesn’t one get to know the extent of the accusation against them?

Officer Lalicker said to me, “She’s on this side of security; she’s going to the bathroom. When she’s going to the bathroom, let her do her thing.”

I responded, “The Constitution is still in force in the bathroom, correct?”

“If you have any complaints feel free to walk over to walk over . . . .” (to the TSA supervisor’s stand), he said. “She’s on her break.”

“The Constitution is also on break?” I said.

I told him that as long as our First Amendment rights don’t go the way of our Fourth Amendment rights, I plan on speaking up wherever I please.

And finally, a message for TSA workers: You don’t like people telling you what you do is terrible? Get a job that doesn’t involve violating people’s constitutional rights.

…Here’s the piece I published previously on why the TSA’s violation of our civil liberties is so pointless and what we need to do about it.