Tucson, Arizona Thursday, 8 August 2002
By Howard Fischer
CAPITOL MEDIA SERVICES Airport searches
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/today/20808rairportsecurity.html
Air travelers who put their luggage through X-ray machines automatically consent
to having their bags searched, even if the screening doesn't reveal anything
suspicious, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday.
The judges rejected arguments by a man who was flying out of Los Angeles International Airport that employees there illegally searched his bags. The court also threw out his contention that he was illegally detained because he was told he could not leave the airport with his luggage until the search.
Rulings of the 9th Circuit are binding on Arizona.
Court records show Hugo Torbet went to LAX in October 1998 to catch a United flight to San Francisco. He passed through a metal detector and allowed his luggage to go through the X-ray scanner.
Security personnel then told him his bag had been selected for a random search. Torbet was told that follows an airport policy of searching bags even without a suspicion that a particular one contains weapons or explosives.
They also denied his request to leave the airport without first searching his bag. The search found nothing.
Torbet sued, claiming false imprisonment and invasion of privacy. He argued that random searches, absent some suspicion and absent his express consent, violate his rights.
Appellate Judge Jerome Farris, writing for the unanimous court, said airport security must comply with the Fourth Amendment restrictions against unreasonable search and seizure.
He said that means screening must be no more extensive than necessary, given current technology, and be confined in good faith for the purpose of security.
What it also means, Farris said, is that those who do not want searches have an option: Don't fly. But make that decision before going to the airport.
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