Seized at the Airport, Sold Online: Bureaucrats Get Creative
EmailTougher airport security rules could mean a windfall for state treasuries this fall as items seized at security checkpoints are sold off on eBay. Officials at the Pennsylvania Department of General Services say they expect to see a spike in sales in coming weeks. The department has contracts with 12 airports in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Ohio to pick up items like knives, scissors and even the odd pair of furry handcuffs that passengers "voluntarily surrender" at security before boarding their planes. THE BLOTTER RECOMMENDS Over Half of TSA Screeners at One Airport Fail Screening Test TSA Booty Up for Grabs on eBay Click Here to Check Out More of the Brian Ross Page The items are sorted, photographed, then sold to the highest bidder on eBay. "With fall here and winter approaching, more people will be visiting us online seeing what we have to sell," says spokesperson Edward Myslewicz. And state workers are getting creative with the marketing. Common items like knives, rope and flashlights are being combined into a "hunting kit" and auctioned off as a package deal, just in time for hunting season. And for hockey fans this winter, state workers will also be assembling a "hockey kit" for sale on the web. Since the program began in June 2004, the department says it has raised more than $317,000.
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This should be illegal. It is bad enough that the government confiscates possessions, but allowing the government to sell them only opens the door for abuse.
Posted by: Nelson Skinner | October 12, 2006, 4:37 pm 4:37 pm
i work in an airport and i believe this is totally wrong. everything confiscated should go directly to the garbage compactor. even i have to unload my pockets everyday, and if i accidently carry a lighter or something in, i sure as hell don’ t want something with my prints on it ending up somewhere across the world in a crime scene or something. i work with people who have told me they had to dump the gravy and soup out of their lunch. this is going too far.
Posted by: bruce | October 13, 2006, 1:32 am 1:32 am
It is illegal read Bill of Rights amd # 5 “No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation. “
Posted by: bill | October 13, 2006, 11:26 am 11:26 am
This is not only illegal search and siezure (I know, it’s an airport, but has the High Court ever really considered the constitutional implications of the powers the Feds have arrogated to themselves at airports?), but also, as Bill noted, a taking and a form of involuntary taxation. If they cared to, the TSA could easily set up a means for people to mail confiscated items to themselves, but they don’t do it, for the same reason that many airports don’t even have a chair nearby the security gate where you can put on the shoes they make you take off: They just don’t care.
This kind of thing really gives the lie to all the Feds’ blandishments about how the tightening airport regimen is only there to protect us. I see plenty of other interests at all levels that are being put way ahead of not only the interests of the 99.99999% us who pose no threat whatsoever, but even of the security concerns that they tout so highly. Airport security personnel who steal from checked luggage don’t make me feel safe, and neither does appropriation of my property to line the coffers of the government of state that I don’t even live in.
Posted by: bureaubasher | October 13, 2006, 1:51 pm 1:51 pm
So why is it so hard to place the itmes in a box, bag, etc., give the passenger a claim stub, put it all in a box in the cargo compartment and return it to the legal owner at the destination?
This ‘voluntary surrender” of personal items makes the assumption that American Citizens are criminals.
Posted by: Grumpy | October 18, 2006, 12:02 pm 12:02 pm