Nipple ring search procedures faulty, TSA admits

[SteveBsjb]

Nipple ring search procedures faulty, TSA admits

* Story Highlights
* NEW: TSA backs officers who made passenger remove nipple rings
* NEW: Agency acknowledges that procedures need to be changed
* Agent using handheld metal detector at Lubbock airport found piercings
* Woman says she heard male agents snicker as she removed rings

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The Transportation Security Administration said Friday its officers at a Texas airport appear to have properly followed procedures when they allegedly forced a woman to remove her nipple rings -- one with pliers -- but acknowledged the procedures should be changed.

The woman involved -- Mandi Hamlin -- told reporters earlier Friday she was humiliated by last month's incident, in which she was forced to painfully remove the piercings behind a curtain as she heard snickers from male TSA officers nearby. The incident occurred at the Lubbock, Texas, airport.

The officers "rightly insisted that the alarm that was raised be resolved," the TSA said in a statement posted on its Web site Friday afternoon. "TSA supports the thoroughness of the officers involved as they were acting to protect the passengers and crews of the flights departing Lubbock that day."

However, "TSA has reviewed the procedures themselves and agrees that they need to be changed," the statement said. "In the future, TSA will inform passengers that they have the option to resolve the alarm through a visual inspection of the article in lieu of removing the item in question."

Hamlin and her lawyer, celebrity attorney Gloria Allred, said they want a public apology from the agency, as well as a guarantee that future passengers with piercings will be treated with dignity and respect.

Allred pointed out that TSA's Web site says passengers with piercings can undergo a pat-down inspection if they do not want to take their piercings out -- an option she said Hamlin was never offered.

"The conduct of TSA was cruel and unnecessary," Allred told reporters at a news conference. "Last time that I checked, a nipple was not a dangerous weapon."

She said if an apology was not forthcoming, "Mandi is going to have to consider her legal options."

Attempts by CNN to reach Allred for a response to the TSA statement Friday afternoon were unsuccessful.

TSA said in its statement it acknowledges "that our procedures caused difficulty for the passenger involved and regrets (the) situation in which she found herself. We appreciate her raising awareness on this issue and we are changing the procedures to ensure that this does not happen again."

The incident occurred February 24 as Hamlin, 37, was preparing to fly to Dallas-Fort Worth from Lubbock, where she had been visiting her elderly great-uncle.

Hamlin said she also has navel and ear piercings and has never set off a metal detector or been singled out for additional screening at an airport.

She did not set off the metal detector at Lubbock International Airport, but was pulled to the side for additional screening, Allred said. A hand wand used by a TSA officer beeped when it was waved over her breasts.

Hamlin told the officer she had nipple piercings, Allred said, and that officer called over another officer, who told her she would need to remove them.

"Ms. Hamlin did not want to remove her nipple piercings," Allred said, reading from a letter she sent TSA. "After nipple rings are inserted, the skin can often heal around the piercing and the rings can be extremely difficult and painful to remove. In addition, once removed, the pierced skin may close up almost immediately, making it difficult and painful to reinsert the piercing."

More officers were called over, and the group grew to four male and two female TSA officers, according to Hamlin. Also, a small crowd of onlookers had started to gather. The officers insisted that Hamlin remove the nipple rings, Allred said.

"She felt humiliated by the scene that the TSA officers were making," Allred said.

"With tears streaming down her face, she again asked to show the piercings to a TSA officer instead of having to remove them. She was told, however, she would not be allowed to fly unless she removed them. Had she been told that she had a right to a pat-down, she would have chosen that option."

She eventually was taken to a private area behind a curtain to remove the piercings, Allred said. One came out easily, but the other would not, and she called to an officer that she was having trouble and would need pliers. She was handed a large pair, Allred said.

"As Ms. Hamlin struggled to remove the piercing, behind the curtain she could hear a growing number of predominately male TSA officers snickering in the background," Allred said in the letter.

"Mandi Hamlin was publicly humiliated. ... Clearly, this is not how passengers should be treated." VideoWatch the passenger demonstrate removing the jewelry »

Afterward, Hamlin underwent another scan, but realized she had forgotten to remove her navel ring. She offered to remove it, Allred said, but an officer told her it was not necessary because he could see it. Hamlin wondered why a similar visual inspection of her nipple rings would not have sufficed, Allred said.

"I wouldn't wish this experience upon anyone," Hamlin told reporters. "I felt surprised, embarrassed, humiliated and scared. No one deserves to go through this."

In a statement earlier Friday, the TSA said it "is well aware of terrorists' interest in hiding dangerous items in sensitive areas of the body. Therefore, we have a duty to the American public to resolve any alarm that we discover."

TSA included in its statement a picture of a prototype training device it will use to simulate a "bra bomb" in training and testing its officers.

Hamlin said she had to visit the person who originally pierced her nipples to get the rings reinserted, and said the process was excruciatingly painful because of the scar tissue that had formed.

"People who are pierced should not be snickered at, should not become the object of ridicule, should not be singled out for special and uneven and unequal treatment," Allred said. "They should be respected just like everybody else."

She said she had received a call from TSA's public affairs office Friday morning. "We hope that means they're going to jump on this and do something about it," she said. "We want TSA to do the right thing now. We're going to give them the opportunity."

Hamlin said she will continue to fly but will avoid the Lubbock airport. The next time she visits her great-uncle, she said, "I will be driving."

[Sundae]

I'm torn.
And not the only one I guess!

On the one hand, the staff involved did not follow either correct procedures or even common sense rules of respect and dignity. They deserve to have the book thrown at them and be sent on a training course on how to treat passengers like human beings. The chances of Lubbock airport staff really finding a terrorist are slim to none, therefore it is safer to treat passengers like the wage-paying customers they are until proven otherwise.

On the other hand, I am disappointed to read that the lady felt it necessary to get a "celebrity lawyer" if all she is after is an apology. An apology she is certainly due, and she is right to publicise the issue, but I worry she is going to sue. To say that she was in tears, humiliated because people were "snickering" - grow up love, it's a tough world out there. You fall over on the bus, people will snicker. You talk about your nipple piercings in public, people will snicker. You ask for pliers to get one out, people will crack up at the escalating insanity of the situation. Never mind, eh.

[lumberjim]

she could have opted for a "pat down"?

like a tune in tokyo kind of maneuver?

tsa officer: Ma'am, if you'll excuse me, I need to squeeze yer hooters to verify your nipple piercing. please turn around and face away....ok, now put your arms up over your head.....uhm...oh, and stick yer butt out a little, yeah...thats nice.....

[SteveDallas]

Originally Posted by lumberjim

tsa officer: Ma'am, if you'll excuse me, I need to squeeze yer hooters to verify your nipple piercing. please turn around and face away....ok, now put your arms up over your head.....uhm...oh, and stick yer butt out a little, yeah...thats nice.....

You and I are both obviously in the wrong lines of work.

[TheMercenary]

She should have just flashed the idiots to satisfy their lust.

[xoxoxoBruce]

One more, of a long list of bullying, by TSA rent-a-cops.
Also, another example of what happens when the feds are running the show. Just wait until they get their hands on your health care.

[Cloud]

This happens all the time, and has for years. If the rules get changed because this lady has the wherewithal to hire an attorney and make some noise about it, I'll be happy.

Most of the time, jewelry does not set off metal detectors, but occasionally it does. I've never set it off, and I have some fairly large heavy jewelry. Nevertheless, this is not the first credible story about piercees forcibly required to remove their jewelry before boarding a plane.

I think that the authorities are within their rights to confirm that what is setting the alarms off is jewelry, not weapons. Visible or tactile confirmation, performed with a modicum of respect for the passenger, is reasonable, and piercees should be prepared for that. If that means flashing your bits, so be it--it's part of the risk of getting pierced.

Requiring removal of the jewelry is not reasonable, imo. That nipple ring is not going to blow up the plane, sorry. Nor is conducting the process in a salacious or bullying manner.

[elSicomoro]

I thought we had x-ray machines that could solve simple issues like this.

[Cloud]

you want people should lie down on the conveyor belt and squeeze through that little box?

[elSicomoro]

No...I thought they had the x-ray scanner-type thingies.

[Cloud]

some airports may have those, but I've never seen them. (Apparently, however, not in Lubbock. Not a surprise.)There could possibly be a concern about exposure to unnecessary x-rays.

[xoxoxoBruce]

If these guys don't need nipples, then terrorists don't either.

[richlevy]

I am a little confused, since the first time I read this story it was clear that passengers are not required to remove piercings . If that is the case, then procedures were not followed.

Don't expect much common sense from (almost) minimum wage employees with quasi-police powers.

[BrianR]

I'm pierced also but have never been "caught".

Those who know me well can guess how I would have handled that situation.

That said, I know some people who could join a freak show, they have so much metal in their skin. They tell ne that they remove certain piercings and replace them with a plastic "sleeper" to avoid embarrassment at airports.

[Cicero]

I got the pat down. A couple of times...They say they can do it right there publicly or move to an area more private. I said public. I want people to see for theirselves how your passengers are treated.

One time I told them if they removed anymore clothes I was going to have to start charging them. No freebies. They laughed but I was serious.

The "pat down" is just about as humiliating. Yes that is an underwire....I do not keep explosives in my bra......beep beep!! Touch touch swipe..It's more of a breast swipe. Not a graze...full swipes. In front of everybody...One time there was a 15 yr old girl behind me to get the treatment next. Kind of infuriating. They asked if she was with me, and I said no, this is one of your suspects. (nasty look)