TSA Spotted at Chicago Union Station

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Celtic, be prepared to interact with Amtrak PD in the providence station. This morning there were two female officers walking through the station and swiping bags for explosives. There was also a male officer with a dog. No TSA though.

I also saw these same two officers swabbing bags on my last trip south about a month ago.
 
Celtic, be prepared to interact with Amtrak PD in the providence station. This morning there were two female officers walking through the station and swiping bags for explosives. There was also a male officer with a dog. No TSA though.
I also saw these same two officers swabbing bags on my last trip south about a month ago.
Do you know if they're there every day or only on certain days? How frequently do their ETD machines return false positives and what happens when/if they do?

Also, I had read in another thread here (I think it was a recent continuation of a TSA@CUS thread from last year) that searches are supposed to be voluntary. Has anyone had success saying "Thanks, but no thanks" when asked?

I'm not necessarily averse to an APD officer (not a TSA clerk) swabbing the outside of (not searching through) my bags (not my person - TSA swabs travelers' hands), but the far end of my journey isn't the place where I'd want anything to go wrong.

Ideally I'd like to sit on a bench, reading a book and waiting for my train, and if they want to bring a dog by I can just ignore it/them and keep reading, and if they want to just touch the outside of my bags I can basically do the same thing. Is this ideal realistic?

Thanks.
 
Here is a bit of interesting news, quoting from the July 5 2013 NARP Newsletter:

US Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) introduced a bill Tuesday to prohibit the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) from searching passengers anywhere other than at airports, arguing that the job of keeping ground transportation systems safe is better left to local law enforcement.

Rep. Garrett said he is concerned by the activities of the TSA’s Visible Intermodal Prevention and Response (VIPR) unit, which has conducted thousands of unannounced and random searches of passengers and their bags at train stations and intercity bus and ferry terminals. Garrett says VIPR allows TSA, part of the US Department of Homeland Security, to violate passengers’ Fourth Amendment rights.

"By the TSA’s own account, these random searches have done little to make the American people any safer," Garrett told The Hill newspaper. "After VIPR teams had conducted over 9,000 operations, including random truck and bus inspections on a Tennessee highway, the Los Angeles Times revealed in December 2011 that ‘TSA officials say they have no proof that roving [VIPR] teams have foiled any terrorist plots or thwarted any major threat to public safety.’ This is not security, this is security theater."
 
Good for him. Having the TSA at a train station is stupid. I don't mind the wandering drug and bomb dogs (they're so cute!). Plus, as he said, the TSA has no place in ground transportation. Leave it to local law enforcement and Amtrak security.
 
Celtic, be prepared to interact with Amtrak PD in the providence station. This morning there were two female officers walking through the station and swiping bags for explosives. There was also a male officer with a dog. No TSA though.
I also saw these same two officers swabbing bags on my last trip south about a month ago.
Do you know if they're there every day or only on certain days? How frequently do their ETD machines return false positives and what happens when/if they do?

Also, I had read in another thread here (I think it was a recent continuation of a TSA@CUS thread from last year) that searches are supposed to be voluntary. Has anyone had success saying "Thanks, but no thanks" when asked?

I'm not necessarily averse to an APD officer (not a TSA clerk) swabbing the outside of (not searching through) my bags (not my person - TSA swabs travelers' hands), but the far end of my journey isn't the place where I'd want anything to go wrong.

Ideally I'd like to sit on a bench, reading a book and waiting for my train, and if they want to bring a dog by I can just ignore it/them and keep reading, and if they want to just touch the outside of my bags I can basically do the same thing. Is this ideal realistic?

Thanks.
I think the meaning of "searches are voluntary" is that you can refuse to be searched, at which point you will not be allowed to board the train/plane/whatever and you will be politely escorted out of the security area and back to the front door of the airport/train station/whatever.

What is not clear to me is what would happen if you were already in a secure area (legitimately, from a prior screening somewhere else) and the security officials requested to screen you again. This happens in places like the Frankfurt (Germany) airport, where their version of the TSA routinely sets up secondary screening areas "downstream" of the main screening area. But in between those two areas are many shops selling food, drinks, etc. And the officials at the "unadvertised" secondary screening area get upset when you show up with drinks in hand that you purchased downstream of the primary screening area.
 
I have no idea who's often they are there or what says other than frequently. I don't know what happens if they get a false positive - I have never observed them

Getting a positive reading.

In regards to sitting quietly on a bench - yes that is what you willdo. And then the team of officers walks through the station and swabs bags while you are sitting. This is avast improvement from last year when they would set up a table and make everyone taking the escalator to the at form submit to the search.

It's just Amtrak PD ( no TSA) and they don't touch your person or search your bag. Just swab the exterior. This morning they didy suitcase and I asked if they wanted to swab my purse, too. The officer chuckled, said no, and then said what she really wanted to do was go home.
 
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I have no idea who's often they are there or what says other than frequently. I don't know what happens if they get a false positive - I have never observed themGetting a positive reading.

In regards to sitting quietly on a bench - yes that is what you willdo. And then the team of officers walks through the station and swabs bags while you are sitting. This is avast improvement from last year when they would set up a table and make everyone taking the escalator to the at form submit to the search.

It's just Amtrak PD ( no TSA) and they don't touch your person or search your bag. Just swab the exterior. This morning they didy suitcase and I asked if they wanted to swab my purse, too. The officer chuckled, said no, and then said what she really wanted to do was go home.
Thanks, that actually helps a lot. Not sure if it's the wine talking or if it's actually reassurance, but that seems...at least okay.
 
This whole TSA/Homeland Security thing is ridiculous.. It is impossible for a small force to inspect every station (most of them are unmanned) and thousands and thousands of miles of track, bridges and tunnels. On Amtrak it is up to the passengers and crew to act as observers and report anything suspicious to the Amtrak police.
 
As bad as the TSA is - I have no problem with them being at Amtrak stations.
 
What is not clear to me is what would happen if you were already in a secure area (legitimately, from a prior screening somewhere else) and the security officials requested to screen you again. This happens in places like the Frankfurt (Germany) airport, where their version of the TSA routinely sets up secondary screening areas "downstream" of the main screening area. But in between those two areas are many shops selling food, drinks, etc. And the officials at the "unadvertised" secondary screening area get upset when you show up with drinks in hand that you purchased downstream of the primary screening area.
At Ben Gurion Airport in Israel, you are allowed to purchase things like wines and stuff from Duty Free shops and you are even allowed to take them on local and European flights, but not on flights to the US. The secondary check at the boarding points makes you get rid of all liquids beyond the 3-1-1 rule. Apparently no one is told before hand (other than the fine print in the Ben Gurion Security Procedures note that you can find somewhere on the airline web site I am told. I have never looked for it. Thus there are many ticked off passengers who are out of pocket for the expensive liquor that they just purchased. All that they can do is consume as much of it as possible before boarding I suppose. And this is just on United. If you are traveling El Al that is an entirely different level of security that applies there.

In the reverse direction, while arriving in Israel, the last hour of the flight everyone is required to be belted into their seat, with no moving about in the cabin. Basically the plane is put in a lockdown state before it enters Israeli airspace.

So while we have a few silly security procedures they are nowhere near as bad as things get where there is real security threats that people deal with every day.

Of course in Israel you do not make a fuss about these things unless you want to spend the next six hours going through a strip search. They take their airport security pretty darned seriously, and for very obvious reasons.
 
I'm at the outbound destination on a round trip to the east coast. Didn't see a single TSA mouth breather, and only had to show my ID once, when checking bags.

The only civilized way to travel.
 
I'm at the outbound destination on a round trip to the east coast. Didn't see a single TSA mouth breather, and only had to show my ID once, when checking bags.
The only civilized way to travel.
This is at CUS?
 
The whole thing is ugly. The "Rail Safe" Video clamed that the "Presence is definatly effective". How do they know that? Is it just aother case of making a statement they hope we will believe? A "presence" is one thing, having to walk between two black uniforms with automatic weapons is another. The only "plots" that I am aware of involve sabataging the track, not trying to carry a bomb onboard. Some of those pictures invoke memories of **** Germany or the old Soviet Union. They really have no place in our soceity.

We have spent billions on the DHS and have received little benefit yet caused a lot of heartache. But it is, after all, just another government agency trying to build another empire. No real suprise!
 
Club Acela bypasses all the folderol.

Because, you know, only Hoi Paloi are dangerous tewwowists. ;)
 
I can't tell if this guy was working or not.

I ride with TSA employees out of CUS every day. They are commuting to/from home and Midway/O'Hare.
There was one on the CTA Blue Line a few months back. I think it was going to work at O'Hare since the train was outbound.

I wished I had some preprinted document I could've given to it as I stepped off the train that detailed my exact feelings about TSA and why the agency's clerks should hate themselves every second of their lives, but alas, I was unprepared.
 
Club Acela bypasses all the folderol.
Because, you know, only Hoi Paloi are dangerous tewwowists. ;)
Does this count for the Metro Lounges as well?

Any way to evade it at PVD, maybe by arrival time or some such? (leaving on an early 6:45-ish Acela train)
 
There was one on the CTA Blue Line a few months back. I think it was going to work at O'Hare since the train was outbound.
I wished I had some preprinted document I could've given to it as I stepped off the train that detailed my exact feelings about TSA and why the agency's clerks should hate themselves every second of their lives, but alas, I was unprepared.
Seems like that kind of thing would be much more effective if communicated to Congress and/or the higher-ups at the Dept. of Homeland Security, yes?

Although I'm no fan of the agency, I do have some sympathy for individual TSA employees -- but I guess you don't, given that you're referring to them as "it."
 
Club Acela bypasses all the folderol.

Because, you know, only Hoi Paloi are dangerous tewwowists. ;)
Does this count for the Metro Lounges as well?

Any way to evade it at PVD, maybe by arrival time or some such? (leaving on an early 6:45-ish Acela train)
I saw them swiping bags the day I boarded a regional around that time in the morning. I am firmly against the TSA and them getting involved in rail travel. I actually didn't find the bag swiping to be annoying - it is not a search, they no longer line people up. They just walk through the station and swipe bags and then test the strips in a machine.
 
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Easily could have been commuting. I see them fairly often on the Hiawatha Line METRO Blue Line going to MSP to work. Cheaper than parking at the airport, I'm sure.

I don't have any hatred towards the individual workers...most of them that I've had are friendly and pretty nice. I just think that TSA in general is overboard and we don't need that much security.
 
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