Florida Libertarian Party calls on sheriffs to arrest TSA officers

On July 4, the Florida Libertarian Party sent an email to the sheriffs of all 67 counties in the state demanding they arrest Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers for violating the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and Section 12 of the Florida Constitution.

"Every single day, TSA employees conduct electronic and bodily searches upon tens of thousands of Florida citizens and visitors at airports, and more recently at bus terminals, rail stations, and highways," Adrian Wyllie, Chairman of Libertarian Party of Florida, wrote. "They are searching the persons and seizing the effects of travelers without warrant or probable cause."

He added that the enhanced pat down procedures used by the TSA amounted to sexual battery, a first class felony under Florida law when committed by a law enforcement agent.

"As Sheriff, you have the absolute duty to enforce the law uniformly and without prejudice," Wyllie continued. "You are, at best, engaged in selective enforcement by choosing to further ignore these flagrant violations of federal and state law. At worst, you are complicit."

Recently, a woman filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security over how her elderly mother was detained and searched by TSA officers at the Northwest Florida Regional Airport. She claimed her wheelchair-bound 95-year-old mother, who is in the final stages of her battle with leukemia, was asked to remove a soiled adult diaper during a pat down search.

The TSA denied her claim, saying they "determined that our officers acted professionally, according to proper procedure and did not require this passenger to remove an adult diaper."