15.3 Integrity, EEO, Theft Allegations, and Lost Property

15.3 Integrity, EEO, Theft Allegations, and Lost Property

Quick answer: Do not pocket items. Property left at the checkpoint follows TSA lost-and-found and, if lost or damaged in screening, the TSA claims process. If a traveler alleges theft, stop, notify a supervisor, do not search a coworker yourself, and do not argue with the passenger. TSA screening must not discriminate on race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability (Civil Rights). Pat-downs are same-sex. Religious and medical needs follow TSA Cares, not officer preference.

Integrity/Honesty and Conscientiousness sit on the USAJOBS competency list next to Visual Observation for a reason. An officer who can see a firearm in an X-ray and then take a phone from a bin has not passed the job. The TAB and the structured interview are looking for people who treat traveler property as not theirs, treat complaints as process, and treat every traveler as the same screening rules — not as a friend, a target, or a tip jar.

Property is not a perk

TSA estimates that about 90,000 to 100,000 items are left behind at checkpoints each month. That volume is why “I'll just keep it until they come back” is not a system. Lost and Found is the system.

Published rules you should be able to restate:

• Contacts on that page are for items left at TSA security checkpoints or missing from checked baggage. Items left elsewhere in the airport go to the airport's lost-and-found.
• Items left at TSA checkpoints are held a minimum of 30 days or until reunited with the owner. At some locations, lost-and-found items are turned over to the airport at the end of each day.
• Passengers may return to pick up an item or authorize someone else in writing. Items can be shipped at the owner's expense. TSA is not authorized to spend money to return items.
• To retrieve an item, the person must describe it — what it is, when it was lost, color, identifying details.
• Unclaimed electronics: after the holding period, memory is removed and destroyed (for example a laptop hard drive) or the device is destroyed if memory cannot be removed, to protect personal data. Travelers are encouraged to put contact information on electronics.
• Unclaimed IDs (driver's licenses, passports): TSA works with the airport to reunite them; if not claimed within 30 days, they are destroyed.
• Weapons detected in carry-on bags that are left behind are turned over to local law enforcement. That is not a souvenir and not an officer's take-home.
• TSA does not profit from abandoned items. Money from sales goes to the U.S. Department of the Treasury toward the national debt, or, where property is turned over to a state surplus process, the state keeps sale proceeds — not TSA.

Do not pocket items. Not a charger, not cash in a bin, not a knife you “need for the break room,” not a religious item you “were keeping safe.” Pocketing is theft, a suitability problem, and the opposite of Integrity/Honesty. If you find property, it goes into the lost-and-found process, not into a uniform pocket.

Claims are a form, not a belt-side payout

If a traveler is injured or property is lost or damaged during the screening process, TSA's Claims page is the path. You do not settle in cash at the X-ray. You do not admit legal liability to make the person leave. You stay professional, notify a supervisor, and point the traveler to the published process.

Published claims facts:

• File with TSA using the published claim package. After submission, TSA sends an acknowledgement with a control number in about four to six weeks. Save the number.
• The Federal Tort Claims Act governs processing. If the claim is denied or unresolved within six months of proper presentment, the person may file in U.S. District Court.
• Allow up to six months for investigation; law-enforcement investigations can take longer. The final decision to approve a claim rests with TSA.
• Provide receipts, appraisals, and flight information. Contact the airline for lost or missing baggage — that is often an airline problem, not a checkpoint bin.
• Some airports use private screening companies, not TSA. Those claims go to the company listed on the Claims page (for example certain Screening Partnership Program airports). Directing a traveler to the wrong form wastes months.

A claims conversation can be angry. That does not change section 15.2: explain the next step, offer a supervisor, do not match hostility, and do not skip remaining screening.

Theft allegation: stop, supervisor, no freelance search

A traveler who says “an officer stole my laptop” or “your coworker took cash from my wallet” has made an integrity allegation. It may be true, confused, or false. You are not the investigator.

Public professional conduct — not an unpublished SOP tree:

1. Stop the argument. Do not talk over the traveler with “none of us would ever do that.” Do not joke. Do not keep screening other people's bags with one ear on a theft accusation as if it were small talk.
2. Notify a supervisor (LTSO then STSO). TSA Cares already tells travelers they may request a supervisor. A theft allegation is a reason you request one even if the traveler has not used that word.
3. Do not search a coworker yourself. You are not internal affairs. You do not empty another officer's pockets, bag, or locker because a traveler pointed. That is how evidence is contaminated and how two people get hurt. TSA Investigations is the public office that “conducts objective criminal and administrative investigations to promote the integrity and effectiveness of TSA's workforce, operations, and programs.” Supervisors know the reporting path. You do not freelance it.
4. Do not argue with the passenger about character, cameras, or “do you know how often people lie.” Point to the supervisor, keep the scene professional, and protect remaining property. If the traveler wants to file a claim or a civil-rights complaint, those published forms exist. If the situation is a crime in progress, the supervisor involves LEO.

The mermaid below is that public sequence. It is not SSI and not a substitute for after-hire training.

EEO, civil rights, and same-sex staffing

TSA's Civil Rights page is unambiguous: security screening policies, procedures, and practices must comply with applicable civil liberties and civil rights laws and must not discriminate against passengers on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, or disability. The External Civil Rights Branch investigates and resolves complaints alleging discrimination in screening at federalized airports. TSA's Civil Rights and Liberties, Ombudsman and Traveler Engagement organization exists so employees and the traveling public are treated in a fair and lawful manner.

What that means on the floor, in public rules you already studied:

• Same-sex pat-down. “You will receive a pat-down by an officer of the same sex.” Wait for that officer. Do not improvise opposite-sex contact because the lane is busy (Chapter 11).
• Private screening with a companion of choice and a second same-sex officer always present.
• Religion. TSA Cares Religion: officers screen religious items with respect; talk with the traveler about the best way to screen; loose or bulky garments and head coverings may need additional screening, including a same-sex pat-down; holy water still follows 3-1-1 or checked baggage. If concerns continue, request a supervisor.
• Medical and disability. All passengers still screen. Travelers may use a TSA Notification Card, verbal notice, or documentation. Documentation helps; it does not cancel screening. Pacemakers should not use the WTMD. Attached devices generally stay on the body. TSA will not request exposure of a sensitive body area.
• Screening is not a forum for harassment. Extra screening is not a punishment for accent, a turban, a disability, or a complaint. Unpredictable measures apply to travelers under published programs — not as a personal payback.

Some USAJOBS TSO announcements include this published staffing sentence: TSA may apply a sex-specific (male or female) hiring preference to fill TSO positions in order to meet security mission and same sex pat-down job-related requirements. At airports where that preference is necessary, candidates of the needed sex receive preference in scheduling the computer-based aptitude test, airport assessments, processing, and selection. The JOA uses the term sex for that same-sex pat-down staffing purpose. Restate the announcement; do not turn the checkpoint into a debate about the announcement. The operational point for a TSO is the same as Chapter 11: same-sex screening is a published job requirement, and staffing exists so that requirement can be met.

Travelers who believe they were discriminated against may file through Civil Rights and Liberties. Travelers who need screening help use TSA Cares. Watchlist or screening-redress issues go to DHS TRIP, not to an officer's improvisation at the podium.

Realistic scenario: A traveler leaves a laptop at the WTMD. You do not put it in your bag “for safekeeping.” It goes to lost-and-found; TSA holds checkpoint items at least 30 days and may destroy unclaimed electronic memory after that. A second traveler says a coworker took cash during a bag search. You stop, call the STSO, you do not search the coworker, and you do not argue. A third traveler alleges the pat-down happened because of religion. You do not add a punitive search. You complete same-sex screening, offer private screening, offer a supervisor, and the traveler may file with Civil Rights and Liberties. The final decision rests with the TSA officer.