Don't forget about TSA theft rings

I moved a few years ago, and I had no choice but to carry my jewelry onto the airplane in my carry-on. Mostly, a box with multiple rings.

The ring box caught the attention of the TSA personnel working the x-ray machine, and they decided to take the ring box elsewhere for further examination.

Problem is, they weren't letting me accompany my jewelry, and the TSA employee in posession of my jewelry would not wait for the x-ray staff to finish scanning the rest of my carry-on items. As a TSA employee began hurrying away with my jewelry, the TSA staff at the x-ray machine were detaining me on the grounds that they needed to run my flip-flops through the machine a couple more times. Oh, yeah.

I'd heard about the way TSA theft rings work in tandem to separate passengers from their valuables, and I refused to stand there as my jewelry disappeared into the chaos of the airport and they refused to eject my flip-flops from the x-ray machine.

I crawled up on the x-ray machine belt ("Ma'am, get off the belt!"), pulled the tray out, grabbed my flip-flops and chased down the TSA employee who was hurrying away with my jewelry. And then I sat with the TSA employee in what looked like an employee break room as she swabbed my grandmother's diamond ring with Q-tips to test it for explosives.

Right. The TSA employees knew they were looking at jewelry when they saw it in the x-ray machine. I am convinced that, had I not chased the TSA employee down, my ring box would have been a bit "light" by the time I recovered it, if I ever did.

While we are focusing on the TSA's new role as perpetuators of "security theater" and sexual assault, don't forget that TSA employees already have another longstanding shameful practice, that of stealing from passengers.