[IP] BETTER MAKE SURE YOU SMILE TSA plans higher fines for passengers with "bad attitudes"
Big fines for banned items at airports
Bad attitude could raise fines
WASHINGTON (AP) --Anyone trying to sneak a knife onto an airplane could be
fined $250 and a passenger with an explosive could get as much as $10,000
under new guidelines.
Thousands of airline passengers board planes every year carrying banned
items such as cuticle scissors, box cutters and guns.
Tom Blank, assistant administrator for transportation security policy,
testified before Congress last week that the Transportation Security
Administration has intercepted more than 1,650 firearms, more than 3
million knives and more than 57,000 incendiary devices since shortly after
the terrorist hijackings on September 11, 2001.
"Fines may help awaken a sleeping population here," said David Stempler,
president of the Air Travelers Association.
"We have too many examples of people inadvertently bringing a gun in their
carry-on."
When Congress created the Homeland Security Department last year, it raised
the maximum fine for trying to carry prohibited items through airport
security from $1,100 to $10,000. The TSA, which became part of Homeland
Security, issued the guidelines on Wednesday spelling out the range of
fines applied to each violation.
Mark Hatfield, TSA spokesman, said the new schedule of fines shows that the
agency is serious about keeping dangerous items off planes. "'I forgot I
had the gun in the bag' is not an acceptable excuse," he said.
The guidelines list aggravating factors, such as "attitude" and "artful
concealment," that can bring a heftier fine.
Though bringing a prohibited item to a checkpoint is illegal, fines won't
be levied on everyone who inadvertently tries to bring a pair of cuticle
scissors or a cigarette lighter through airport security.
Prosecution and appeals
The guidelines call for going easy on children, inexperienced flyers or
people who disclose that they are carrying something they shouldn't.
"We're looking for weapons, we're not looking for scissors," Hatfield said.
Airline passengers carrying banned items can be prosecuted either for civil
or criminal violations.
If TSA screeners catch someone committing a criminal act, such as carrying
a concealed weapon or assaulting a screener, they'll call local law
enforcement officials.
Those accused of a civil violation will receive a notice of violation and
an option sheet in the mail. They get a 50 percent discount on the fine if
they pay within 30 days.
Those who want to appeal the fine have several options, including a hearing
before a Coast Guard judge.
Hatfield said the TSA can't say how many people have been fined because the
databases for its legal department were moved and aren't accessible right now.
http://www.cnn.com/2004/TRAVEL/02/18/air.passenger.fines.ap/index.html
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