GayPatriot

The Internet home for American gay conservatives.

Lo and Behold… An Answer from TSA!

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I nearly took a double-take when I saw this email from Bob Kapp, TSA Customer Service Director, in my In Box this morning.

Subj:  RE: Incident at Denver TSA checkpoint this morning
Date:  9/22/2006  9:36:49 P.M. Eastern Standard Time
From:  bob.kapp@dhs.gov
To:     Bruce Carroll

Mr. Carroll,

I have forwarded your report to 2 of our Operations Managers for investigation and follow up. I have asked them to obtain statements and, if still available, to view surveillance videos. Although the video quality is often poor, the time at the checkpoint will be telling. I have also sent this on to our training group for use in their sessions on professionalism and courtesy.

Although I am out of the office until 9/26 I wanted to respond, if only in a preliminary manner. The type of behavior you describe is not acceptable and if it is discovered that an Officer has a penchant for this level of performance it will have an adverse effect on their employment status.

I appreciate your sentiments about security and I want to assure you that a report like this will be taken seriously. With few exceptions, our Officers are professional, courteous, and committed to their mission. In most instances it is peer pressure that maintains a high level of performance and misbehavior is not tolerated within a team anywhere in the system.

I regret any distress you experienced as a result of this screening and we will do all we can to make sure there is not a repeat performance.

Bob Kapp

Now why had I heard nothing from him or anyone else I copied on my email for over a week….until I went all “GayPatriot” on them yesterday?  Why does it always have to come to extremes in order to get adequate customer service these days?   Just damn frustrating, I tell ya.

-Bruce (GayPatriot)

Comments

  5. Gee…I feel so much safer because you finally got a reply from a TSA bigwig in response to your customer service complaint. And that you felt obliged to share the important news with us. You’ve done a great public service by taking your shocking story about an allegedly rude security screener to the top of the DHS organizational chart. Who knew such things were going on in our airports? Hopefully, someone will get fired or, better yet, a bill will be passed in Congress outlawing something or other.

    You should know that we’re all relying on your keen sense of indingation to effect even greater social change in the future. Perhaps the next time a McDonald’s wage slave isn’t fast enough with your fries you can do something similarly brave to shake up corporate America for the greater good of us all.

  6. In other words, “How dare conservatives use the indignation card, dang it!”

    Nevermind that airport hassles are completely and utterly non-partisan, conservatives are the enemy and don’t forget it.

    And if they are right about something they should be accused of wasting air on unimportant issues.

  7. For one thing airport screening in the USA and TSA is a joke. I live in Denver and fly quite often out of DIA. One of the local TV news groups in Denver ran some tests on the TSA at DIA. They were able to get explosives and weapons, including hand guns past the screening at DIA. I have never had a problem with the screeners at DIA but I have witnessed the rude behavior by the screeners. Airport security is so much better and screeners are very professional in Korea, Japan, and Thailand.

  9. #6 Synova — September 23, 2006 @ 8:42 pm – September 23, 2006

    Nevermind that airport hassles are completely and utterly non-partisan, conservatives are the enemy and don’t forget it.

    I largely agree with you as to the first (before the comma), but disagree with you a bit. It is true that a TSA official has no way of knowing the politics of the person being screened. But, in DP’s previous post (his complaint), we have only one side of what was going on. As I said on the comment thread for that other post, I tend to discount one side of a “he said/she said” controversy (which is what this was equivalent to). Might be accurate, but might not be, and is probably somewhere in between.

    Regarding your second point, you really should recognize that it is largely conservatives in the US who are pushing for the ever more draconian airline inspection regimes and limitations. I know why the Bush Administration is doing it, and I also know that the inspection regime is generally–but not entirely–a fraud. If you want to know why, go over to salon.com and read the series of “Ask The Pilot” articles by Patrick Smith, someone who actually knows something about airline security. On the other hand, if conservatives feel themselves inconvenienced by the “ever more draconian inspection regimes and limitations,” they only have themselves to blame.

    Be careful what you wish for. It might come back to bite you. And, in DP’s case, it did.