We went away for a family vacation. On our return flight, they searched every carry-on and frisked every passenger at the gate. You gave your boarding pass, walked past the counter, and presented your bag for manual search. Next, before proceeding to the plane, there were two guards (male and female) who frisked everyone. The bags were searched publicly -- you knew that was coming before you gave your boarding pass. But the frisking happened behind a wall -- meaning that you didn't know you were going to be frisked until after you cleared the airline's counter area and the baggage check.
When I got to the "frisking station," the security guard told me to stand straight with my arms out to the sides, parallel to the floor. As I did so, he said, "I have to pat you down, OK?"
I said: "No."
The guard was quite confused, and both my wife and son looked at me quixotically. Both had just been through pat-downs.
The guard must have assumed I didn't hear him correctly, so he repeated: "I have to pat you down, OK?"
I repeated: "No, that is not OK."
"I have to."
I continued to stand with my arms out as instructed. I said, "I understand that you have to. You asked if it's OK. No, it is not OK."
I don't think the guard quite understood that. My wife said to me, "Don't give him a hard time; he's just doing his job."
I said, "I'm not giving him a hard time. I'm not telling him not to do his job. I am telling him that it is not OK that he pat me down."
The guard was flummoxed. He gave a cursory pat-down to my calves and arms and waved me through.
The Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution states:
"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
Question: Is frisking every passenger on a given flight "reasonable?" Is the fact that terrorists would like to blow up our planes "probable cause" to search the baggage and person of all passengers?
Or should we instead stop trying to find suspicious objects and rather look for suspicious people?
