Video: TSA: "We Don't Have To Show You The Law... We Carry Out The Law"

Does this video depict yet another example of TSA-thuggery? As the video starts, an unidentified woman at the TSA security checkpoint at Sky Harbor International in Phoenix, Arizona claims that a TSA agent just "molested" her during a pat-down and demands to see a police officer.

The fact that a man claiming to be the woman's son was already filming the incident leads us to believe that it may have been a staged citizen-sting operation, but what transpires is still extremely disturbing.

TSA agents appear a great deal more concerned over the fact that they are being recorded than attending to the woman's complaint, and the fact that TSA agents, the Phoenix Police and a "security coordinator" threaten to have the man recording the video arrested for taking a video recording in proximity to a TSA security checkpoint, very disturbing, to say the least. The man protests, claiming that he is standing in a public area in the airport, but is told nonetheless that it's a violation of the law to film and he will be arrested if he continues to film the incident. Then at the 3:34 time-mark of the video, the man asks a "security coordinator" if he can show him the law or at least give him a citation number so he can look up the law later and the official says: "We don't have to show you the law... we carry out the law." Is it "against the law" to record video or take a photograph in an airport or in proximity to a TSA security checkpoint? While the courts have held that it is indeed a constitutionally protected activity, we decided to see what the TSA had to say on the matter. A TSA-sponsored website that referenced the above incident stated: "We recognize that using video and photography equipment is a constitutionally protected activity" but "our current policy remains the same." Additionally the TSA-sponsored website says: "TSA is reviewing our guidance to officers at the checkpoint to ensure consistent application [of TSA policies] And just what are TSA's "policy"? Several paragraphs later, the TSA-sponsored website supplies a hyperlink so that the reader can review TSA's current policy for photography in proximity to checkpoints, but strangely, that link goes to a page that was taken down and yields a 404 navigation error. Thanks for clarifying matters TSA.