Airport strip search

Not the right place maybe but has anyone been strip searched at the airport,or watched or heard if anyone else get strip searched ? Airport strip search strictly.

I once worked at the Las Vegas NV airport. My job was not with TSA, but I did help them around the check point. They once found something not allowed on a plane at the check point. I cannot say what it was due to it having to be kept confidential. However, the person was taken to a private room and strip searched for anymore of what it was. That person was a female. The strip search was done by two other female TSA officers. After the strip search, they did allow the female to put her clothes back on and she was arrested. I do not know if they found anything else or not.

TSA does not do strip searches that often, however it is done. If it is a female, then females do it. If it is a male, then males do it. There are no coed strip searches done.

Interesting story.

Hmm… I don’t know. Everything I read says they don’t do strip searches and that’s handled by local law enforcement.

Waterparkman,

Do you believe everything that you hear? Here in Las Vegas NV it is done, but not often. Sometimes law enforcement is there and sometimes they are not. It is always females with females and males with males. Never is it coed. If they do it , they must have a very good reason. It cannot just be done because someone from TSA wants it done. Everything must be documented in writing. Of course, no videos or pictures are allowed to be taken of the person being strip searched.

The person is told to take his or her clothes off and stand with his or her legs spread wide. The arms are to be held out at a 45° angle. One of the ones who is going to do the inspection will first look over the person standing there nude without touching him or her. Then he will put on some rubber gloves for safety. The rubber gloves are thin rubber, not latex, this is in case the person is allergic to latex. Then the person is felt from head to toe avoiding the genital areas between the legs. For a female the breasts will also not be touched unless a fresh cut is seen that could be a place where something that was meant to be hidden is injected there or placed there in some way. Only then will a females breasts be touched. As for a males balls, it is the same way. There must be some reason to suspect something is hidden in there.

Albert

I witnessed this in the mid-eighties.

I was at Iquitos airport in Peru. The departure lounge was full with mainly locals but also a scattering of foreigners. There entered a middle aged man, overweight and balding and dressed in sports jacket, grey trousers and an open necked shirt. He was accompanied by two young uniformed police officers. He went over to the check-in desk and spoke briefly after which there was an announcement :

“Would Miss xxx please come to the check-in desk. Would Miss…”

A young woman stood up looking startled and went over to the desk. She was caucasian, young, probably 18 or 19, slim, with long dark hair and dressed in typical back-packer style. T-shirt, cut off jeans and sandals and carried a small back-pack. She spoke briefly with the middle aged man after which he led her “escorted” by the uniformed officers either side, to the ladies toilets at the side of the departure lounge. After checking no-one was inside she was taken in by the older man and one of the uniformed officers, while the other stood guard outside. The westerners, especially the women, watched this with horror, while the locals studiously ignored what was happening.

Maybe 20 minutes later the men reappeared, they briefly spoke amongst themselves, while the older one lit up a cigarette, ignoring the “No Smoking” signs. After about another 5 minutes they left the departure area. The young woman then appeared looking dishevelled and distressed. A western woman stood up and rushed over to her but was waved away and the young woman went back to her seat. Another tried to talk to her and was similarly rebuffed after which the flight was called and I lost sight of this unfortunate young woman.

What had happened to her? I have long thought over this and can only surmise that a routine check had turned-up something illegal in her luggage. Not overly serious but enough to get the attention of the senior plain clothed officer. They obviously took her to the toilets for privacy while making sure she was not carrying anything illegal on her person, probably a strip search. The time taken and her later dishevelled state indicate this was quite thorough. How did she escape any further police action? Maybe she paid a bribe, maybe something else?

This sounds like a fantasy but it is not. It is a cautionary tale for young women thinking about travelling alone in 3rd world countries.

Never had a full strip search but I did have to go back to a private area and drop my pants once so they could search the knee brace I had at the time.

No but they may search me after my bag goes thru the machine. TSA may want to get a closer look at what’s in my bag hahaha 🤣

@Santar Not necessarily to third world countries. You'll end up in such situations anywhere if you are suspected of carrying drugs.

It's probably been posted here already but I did hear of a lady that got pulled in because she had a buttplug in and they thought she was smuggling. She pulled it out and explained it held the ashes of her late boyfriend and she might as well carry him there because he was always up there anyway when he was alive!

I had to go to Columbia on business many years ago. We we standing in line to check in when several soldiers started pulling people out of line. They took us back to a secure area where we stood in front of a table and took off our clothes and handed them to a soldier who searched them. The area was private from the airport lobby but not from anyone in the security room. When I was completely naked a female soldier wearing rubber gloves came over and searched my hair, ears, and mouth. Then she rummaged around my genitals and then bent me over for a rectal exam. After that I had to stand there naked until they finished searching everyone including one woman. I was angry and scared out of my wits. Never so glad to leave a place and I have never wanted to return either.

Yikes, I shudder at even the thought of one!

A few years ago I had the unfortunate luck to have a “SSSS” on my boarding pass which involved a strip search.

After walking through the x-ray they obviously saw something different on my clothing. I was taken to a seperate room with a lady officer where she stated that I cannot take my bag with me. After my clothes were off they were embarrassed that I was wearing a diaper. Procedures requires them to inspect the inside contents of a diaper for drugs etc. Where I stated to the woman which is the reason for my bag as I knew this would happen. They finally brought my bag in and the search was then completed.

This is what piffs me… society is worried by their pronouns that there are tons of systems available for that, however they have no system available that provides some dignity to those with an embarrassing medical issue.

@concrete: Do you have any idea why you had SSSS in the first place?

SUPER SPECIAL STRIP SEARCH

My wife was strip searched in Southend-on-Sea 51 years ago. Apparently she exactly matched the description of a female who had robbed a bank that day!

Several years ago, maybe twenty or more, l saw on a 60 Minutes type show, Dateline or whatever, one of them, where someone was put through the ringer…. to the point they made them drink that big jug of whatever they used to have to for the colonoscopy prep l think because they saw something suspicious looking on an x-ray or something…. not sure why it went that far, but it took hours and they inspected every time they had a release…. in the end nothing was found and they were completely innocent. Not sure what airport this was and l think it was in the USA, but not sure. What all happened in the end, l don't remember ( if there was a lawsuit or what ), but l know l saw the episode.

i just searched online…. >>> this sounds like it, not USA l guess. >>>

Article Published: Sunday, November 1, 2015 >>>

https:www.//jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20151102/court-awards-farmer-35m-after-he-was-forced-ingest-laxative

SUPER SPECIAL STRIP SEARCH

https://thepointsguy.com/news/ssss-on-boarding-pass/

Secondary Security Screening Selection — or "The Quad S," as some call it …

they made them drink that big jug of whatever they used to have to for the colonoscopy prep l think because they saw something suspicious looking on an x-ray or something…. not sure why it went that far, but it took hours and they inspected every time they had a release…. in the end nothing was found and they were completely innocent.

Completely innocent and clean as a whistle.

I used to deliver furniture to a state prison and the guards told me they had a cell with a toilet with a screen over it and they would catch prisoners smuggling drugs in balloons they swallowed after a conjugal visit. They would make them drink the prep then put them in the cell until they went.

I was wearing a knee brace with two metal plates in front of my cruciate ligaments and I had forgotten to remove it before going through the gantry. The gate beeped, the guard searched me on the spot and I told him about my knee brace, but he took me into the booth afterwards and asked me to take off my trousers and go topless. He saw my knee brace but also, from behind, he pulled down my boxers and then from the front, he asked me to pull down the boxers.

Then I was able to get dressed.

I was almost searched because I had a bandage on my groin which was picked up on the scanner.

I can't say I've been literally strip searched at the airport but when I was traveling a lot, I always had the worst luck with getting randomly selected for a pat-down. One time, I was so irked, I decided to have some fun and pulled some “oh yeah” “Umm” and other sound effects. The TSA handler was very uncomfortable with my audacity and wrapped up quickly.

I only had to lift my shirt once. Had to get into that scanner and I had a t-shirt with glitter on under my sweather, had to be taken to the private room and lift my shirt show my bra, and one of them felt over my shirt, no more. Two female guards were watching.

@concrete: Do you have any idea why you had SSSS in the first place?

They happen randomly. I have no issues with the increased as long as I am left dignified and when they initially refused to take in my bag the embarrassment was upon them as they had to see me for an elongated amount of time naked and dribbling urine over their floor.

I stated to them that if they want a wet floor they better obtain my bag or there will be a law suit as their procedures were incomplete.

One thing you can do is voice record the event and let them know that it is happening.

I got stripped searched going into Canada on a ski trip years ago. The drug dog identified me as having drugs ( which I knew I didn't )

As they were going through my luggage and clothing about half way through with my cooperating completely ( even showing them some hiding places they missed ) they realized that the dog was wrong, but still went through the motions of having me get undressed so they could quickly check the clothes I was wearing.

Didn't find anything ( of course ) so they sent me on my way.

I told them what the dog smelled was my dog's scent on my clothing.