TSA Told To Tell Children That Groping Them Is A Game... Horrifying Sex Abuse Experts

[Sandra]

TSA Told To Tell Children That Groping Them Is A Game... Horrifying Sex Abuse Experts

URL Source: http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20 ... -children-that-groping-them-is
Published: Dec 4, 2010
Author: staff


Apparently TSA agents are being told
that one way to handle the new groping pat downs for children is to try
to make it out to be some sort of "game." This is apparently horrifying
some sex abuse experts who point out that a common tactic in abuse cases
is to tell the kids that they're just "playing a game." The TSA has
said that the newer patdowns will not apply to children under 12, but
the rules have been somewhat unclear -- leading to the statement from a
TSA director, James Marchand:

"You try to make it as best you can for that child to come through. If you can come up with some kind of a
game to play with a child, it makes it a lot easier."

He also said that the idea of making it a game would become a part of the TSA's
training. Ken Wooden, who runs an organization to try to stop sex abuse
of children was not pleased: "How can experts working at the TSA be so
incredibly misinformed and misguided to suggest that full body pat downs
for children be portrayed as a game?" Wooden asked in an email. "To do
so is completely contrary to what we in the sexual abuse prevention
field have been trying to accomplish for the past thirty years."